Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A unnerving supernatural horror tale from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric evil when outsiders become conduits in a satanic ritual. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of continuance and mythic evil that will reshape terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic motion picture follows five individuals who regain consciousness caught in a wilderness-bound cottage under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a legendary sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be absorbed by a big screen display that harmonizes visceral dread with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the monsters no longer develop externally, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most sinister dimension of the victims. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five teens find themselves caught under the malevolent control and control of a mysterious apparition. As the victims becomes unresisting to deny her influence, cut off and hunted by evils impossible to understand, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the timeline ruthlessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and alliances splinter, prompting each soul to reflect on their being and the principle of autonomy itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that connects mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore ancestral fear, an presence beyond recorded history, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and dealing with a darkness that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering households globally can dive into this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this haunted journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For sneak peeks, special features, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, paired with tentpole growls

From survivor-centric dread grounded in scriptural legend and stretching into installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured plus carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, concurrently SVOD players flood the fall with new perspectives alongside archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored 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. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: 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. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: continuations, new stories, plus A Crowded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The brand-new genre slate crams up front with a January pile-up, thereafter extends through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame genre releases into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it hits and still protect the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that lean-budget pictures can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The energy fed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is room for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a run that is strikingly coherent across players, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of legacy names and original hooks, and a tightened priority on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and streaming.

Schedulers say the category now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on numerous frames, provide a sharp concept for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with demo groups that lean in on Thursday previews and sustain through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration indicates certainty in that engine. The slate opens with a heavy January block, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall run that stretches into the Halloween frame and beyond. The gridline also illustrates the expanded integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and roll out at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a reframed mood or a cast configuration that links a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay yields 2026 a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by recognizable motifs, character previews, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will drive mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and micro spots that melds love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are branded as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, hands-on effects style can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can fuel premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to launch and staging as events rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has proven amenable to pick up select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. 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 foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf this page brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is full. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played navigate to this website to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver 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 rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 claw to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom 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 home-set haunting scenario that filters its scares through a minor’s uneven POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and star-fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. 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 primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams this page behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. 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.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, 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, sound field, 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.