Mythic Terror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

A bone-chilling ghostly scare-fest from creator / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval malevolence when outsiders become tokens in a hellish ceremony. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize scare flicks this season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie feature follows five teens who wake up locked in a cut-off shack under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a central character dominated by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Arm yourself to be captivated by a immersive journey that weaves together bodily fright with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the entities no longer emerge from external sources, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most terrifying aspect of the cast. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the events becomes a intense push-pull between light and darkness.


In a bleak no-man's-land, five friends find themselves isolated under the malevolent dominion and infestation of a obscure apparition. As the characters becomes vulnerable to combat her power, isolated and stalked by unknowns mind-shattering, they are confronted to encounter their greatest panics while the time mercilessly counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and teams dissolve, requiring each soul to examine their personhood and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The stakes surge with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that integrates occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract basic terror, an spirit that existed before mankind, working through inner turmoil, and dealing with a spirit that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing fans internationally can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its intro video, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this gripping fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, alongside IP aftershocks

Ranging from endurance-driven terror suffused with scriptural legend to returning series paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most textured paired with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel subscription platforms pack the fall with new voices paired with archetypal fear. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

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 fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The new genre calendar loads in short order with a January crush, and then carries through summer, and continuing into the holidays, marrying brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can spike when it lands and still protect the drag when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize audience talk, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films highlighted there is capacity for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the field, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and novel angles, and a revived strategy on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for trailers and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on previews Thursday and continue through the follow-up frame if the film delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that logic. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January run, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a September to October window that runs into All Hallows period and into November. The schedule also shows the tightening integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and expand at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are aiming to frame connection with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a new tone or a lead change that threads a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a legacy-leaning mode without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as event films, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, practical-first mix can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong check my blog signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to launch and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Be ready for 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 a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date try from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind these films indicate a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

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 continues. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that explores the horror of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. 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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundcraft, 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 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.