Age-old Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

This eerie otherworldly suspense film from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless dread when unknowns become instruments in a cursed ordeal. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of struggle and forgotten curse that will remodel scare flicks this spooky time. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and gothic film follows five lost souls who awaken trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Brace yourself to be immersed by a cinematic ride that unites intense horror with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the monsters no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from within. This mirrors the deepest facet of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a constant conflict between good and evil.


In a barren backcountry, five friends find themselves confined under the malevolent presence and infestation of a shadowy spirit. As the victims becomes defenseless to withstand her manipulation, isolated and tracked by powers beyond comprehension, they are pushed to face their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch ruthlessly winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and alliances fracture, coercing each cast member to contemplate their personhood and the principle of free will itself. The cost magnify with every short lapse, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon basic terror, an presence from ancient eras, manifesting in our fears, and confronting a will that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that change is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving horror lovers around the globe can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has collected over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these unholy truths about the human condition.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts blends old-world possession, independent shockers, and brand-name tremors

Spanning last-stand terror grounded in near-Eastern lore all the way to returning series as well as focused festival visions, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners set cornerstones using marquee IP, concurrently SVOD players load up the fall with debut heat paired with old-world menace. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is buoyed by the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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 this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, plus A hectic Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The arriving genre year loads in short order with a January logjam, then extends through June and July, and continuing into the year-end corridor, blending series momentum, new concepts, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that frame these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the most reliable move in release strategies, a genre that can expand when it breaks through and still safeguard the liability when it does not. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that low-to-mid budget genre plays can command audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays underscored there is a market for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across the market, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of known properties and new pitches, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now slots in as a utility player on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that arrive on first-look nights and continue through the next weekend if the movie fires. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates trust in that engine. The year gets underway with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a October build that pushes into late October and afterwards. The program also includes the tightening integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just making another follow-up. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a reframed mood or a star attachment that anchors a new installment to a heyday. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are returning to material texture, practical effects and vivid settings. That interplay produces 2026 a solid mix of comfort and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a memory-charged bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push rooted in signature symbols, character previews, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that mutates into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror surge that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that fortifies both premiere heat and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival buys, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times get redirected here and eventizing arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre hint at a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed 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 audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes 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 real, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 try to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia news spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that frames the panic through a youngster’s volatile inner lens. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll 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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. 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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 exploit those windows. 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. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.