Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A chilling spectral suspense story from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless nightmare when unrelated individuals become puppets in a fiendish ordeal. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of continuance and forgotten curse that will remodel genre cinema this ghoul season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric thriller follows five individuals who come to locked in a isolated hideaway under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a ancient sacred-era entity. Be warned to be ensnared by a audio-visual presentation that melds primitive horror with legendary tales, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the forces no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from within. This embodies the most sinister element of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a unyielding face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren forest, five teens find themselves contained under the malevolent control and haunting of a mysterious woman. As the group becomes powerless to fight her influence, exiled and stalked by spirits mind-shattering, they are compelled to stand before their soulful dreads while the moments unforgivingly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and bonds break, pressuring each member to reconsider their identity and the integrity of autonomy itself. The hazard grow with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to draw upon ancestral fear, an threat born of forgotten ages, influencing our weaknesses, and testing a force that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that transition is shocking because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers from coast to coast can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For film updates, extra content, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan interlaces myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Across life-or-death fear grounded in ancient scripture as well as canon extensions and acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted combined with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios set cornerstones with franchise anchors, simultaneously premium streamers load up the fall with debut heat and archetypal fear. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm 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 remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to 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 keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, as well as A jammed Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The current genre slate crams early with a January glut, after that stretches through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that turn the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has turned into the steady swing in distribution calendars, a category that can scale when it breaks through and still safeguard the losses when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that cost-conscious pictures can steer audience talk, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is demand for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that play globally. The result for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Executives say the category now behaves like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, create a sharp concept for previews and social clips, and outpace with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and stay strong through the second frame if the film delivers. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm exhibits assurance in that playbook. The year gets underway with a thick January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and broaden at the inflection point.

An added macro current is legacy care across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just pushing another return. They are working to present connection with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a tonal shift or a cast configuration that threads a next entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the directors behind the high-profile originals are favoring hands-on technique, real effects and specific settings. That mix produces 2026 a confident blend of recognition and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout centered on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are sold as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror blast that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is framing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium format interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, fright rows, and programmed rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries near their drops and framing as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a day-date try from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and stretch the story. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, allows marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot weblink minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down 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 legit, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 grieving man’s virtual companion unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family bound to returning 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and visuals 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.