Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on premium platforms

An terrifying unearthly fright fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic curse when unrelated individuals become victims in a diabolical ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of resistance and age-old darkness that will resculpt horror this scare season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic feature follows five young adults who find themselves sealed in a secluded hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be shaken by a audio-visual display that blends instinctive fear with arcane tradition, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the fiends no longer develop from beyond, but rather from within. This symbolizes the darkest shade of these individuals. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a relentless tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a desolate forest, five youths find themselves cornered under the malevolent dominion and possession of a elusive spirit. As the characters becomes defenseless to withstand her manipulation, stranded and followed by creatures inconceivable, they are forced to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds harrowingly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and ties splinter, demanding each participant to contemplate their existence and the nature of autonomy itself. The consequences surge with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to extract primal fear, an force older than civilization itself, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and examining a power that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring audiences worldwide can be part of this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Join this unforgettable spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these dark realities about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. Slate braids together Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, and brand-name tremors

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with near-Eastern lore all the way to installment follow-ups as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified paired with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses set cornerstones with familiar IP, at the same time digital services front-load the fall with fresh voices alongside archetypal fear. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. 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, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 scare release year: next chapters, universe starters, together with A busy Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The emerging scare cycle stacks at the outset with a January logjam, following that runs through midyear, and well into the holiday frame, fusing brand equity, original angles, and tactical counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the most reliable swing in studio lineups, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles confirmed there is a market for different modes, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new concepts, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can kick off on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outperform with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects comfort in that model. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The map also underscores the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across ongoing universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating physical effects work, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence hands 2026 a solid mix of comfort and newness, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a handoff and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a fan-service aware approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run leaning on iconic art, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that shifts into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that blurs intimacy and unease.

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

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are branded as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered treatment can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can increase PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that elevates both debut momentum and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision releases and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. 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 brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. 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 positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. 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 concert, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a dual release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward real, location-led 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 completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

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 big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 this content journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 severe boss work to survive on a rugged island as the control balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting scenario that mediates the fear via a youth’s wavering perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. 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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp Check This Out trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.