Age-old Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across major streaming services

This unnerving mystic terror film from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient evil when passersby become pawns in a fiendish conflict. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of staying alive and age-old darkness that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric tale follows five figures who wake up trapped in a cut-off house under the dark control of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a millennia-old holy text monster. Brace yourself to be hooked by a cinematic display that weaves together bodily fright with folklore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the malevolences no longer originate beyond the self, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest facet of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the tension becomes a relentless push-pull between good and evil.


In a remote natural abyss, five campers find themselves isolated under the unholy grip and control of a enigmatic entity. As the cast becomes defenseless to fight her manipulation, severed and hunted by unknowns unnamable, they are confronted to acknowledge their greatest panics while the countdown unforgivingly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and connections collapse, driving each cast member to examine their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost surge with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract raw dread, an malevolence beyond time, operating within psychological breaks, and highlighting a darkness that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing horror lovers worldwide can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this gripping descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For teasers, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, and brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture all the way to legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted combined with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as digital services saturate the fall with emerging auteurs alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, the WB camp sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next genre lineup: installments, fresh concepts, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek The brand-new genre slate stacks right away with a January logjam, subsequently stretches through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd offsets. The big buyers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that frame these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest swing in release plans, a space that can spike when it clicks and still mitigate the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The run flowed into 2025, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers made clear there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that is strikingly coherent across the field, with intentional bunching, a blend of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened priority on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now serves as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, furnish a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and outstrip with demo groups that respond on first-look nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the release connects. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout signals comfort in that playbook. The slate commences with a loaded January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a fall run that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can platform a title, create conversation, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are seeking to position connection with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that ties a new installment to a heyday. At the same time, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are returning to tactile craft, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man sets up an machine companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew eerie street stunts and quick hits that interweaves affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven execution can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror surge that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is calling a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and editorial rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival snaps, confirming horror entries tight to release and framing as events go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of precision releases and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not stop a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate point to a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to con floor moments and controlled asset drops. check my blog Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 premise that twists the unease of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked 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 breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. 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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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 heavy premium placement 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 value-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 exploit those windows. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, and picture 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.