Ancient Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streamers

An frightening spectral suspense story from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval malevolence when guests become proxies in a demonic maze. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of struggle and timeless dread that will reconstruct genre cinema this October. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic film follows five unknowns who emerge ensnared in a secluded cottage under the sinister sway of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a legendary sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a theatrical display that intertwines primitive horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the presences no longer manifest from external sources, but rather deep within. This illustrates the most sinister element of the protagonists. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the events becomes a constant face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated terrain, five teens find themselves isolated under the malicious control and grasp of a secretive female figure. As the group becomes incapable to resist her dominion, detached and preyed upon by creatures indescribable, they are made to confront their darkest emotions while the moments coldly strikes toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and bonds dissolve, demanding each individual to doubt their existence and the idea of liberty itself. The danger rise with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that merges unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore core terror, an presence that existed before mankind, emerging via inner turmoil, and highlighting a force that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering watchers across the world can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Join this life-altering ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Horror’s sea change: the year 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside series shake-ups

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in legendary theology all the way to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most variegated as well as strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, in parallel streamers crowd the fall with discovery plays together with old-world menace. In parallel, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the WB camp releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, 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. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. 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.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to 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.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next fright Year Ahead: follow-ups, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar geared toward chills

Dek The new genre cycle clusters up front with a January traffic jam, and then unfolds through the summer months, and deep into the December corridor, mixing name recognition, novel approaches, and savvy release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has emerged as the consistent play in studio calendars, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded decision-makers that mid-range entries can command pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and novel angles, and a sharpened attention on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and digital services.

Insiders argue the horror lane now performs as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. Horror can debut on almost any weekend, furnish a quick sell for trailers and TikTok spots, and punch above weight with fans that arrive on first-look nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the release connects. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm exhibits assurance in that playbook. The calendar starts with a weighty January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that connects to spooky season and afterwards. The schedule also underscores the expanded integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and move wide at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across linked properties and storied titles. The companies are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that binds a next entry to a first wave. At the alongside this, the directors behind the top original plays are embracing on-set craft, real effects and vivid settings. That convergence gives 2026 a confident blend of recognition and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two prominent pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a nostalgia-forward angle without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will chase general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that grows into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are framed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with navigate here PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, practical-first style can feel big on a tight budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror hit that leans hard into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart 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 mission to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign pieces around mythos, and monster design, elements that can stoke large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in careful craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that fortifies both launch urgency and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near launch and eventizing premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of precision releases and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is simple: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with four-quadrant news hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved Get More Info infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and raise the stakes. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror suggest a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker 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 supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing 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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that leverages the terror of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-supported and A-list fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan linked to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sonics, and imagery 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.