Mythic Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

This hair-raising spiritual shockfest from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic curse when unrelated individuals become conduits in a cursed maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of staying alive and old world terror that will revolutionize scare flicks this season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic feature follows five lost souls who find themselves sealed in a cut-off structure under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be shaken by a theatrical ride that merges intense horror with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the beings no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather from within. This embodies the grimmest dimension of the players. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between heaven and hell.


In a bleak landscape, five characters find themselves stuck under the malevolent effect and infestation of a enigmatic apparition. As the protagonists becomes powerless to withstand her will, severed and hunted by spirits inconceivable, they are thrust to encounter their core terrors while the doomsday meter brutally counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and connections splinter, pushing each individual to reconsider their being and the foundation of self-determination itself. The hazard grow with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into ancestral fear, an entity that predates humanity, operating within soul-level flaws, and challenging a darkness that strips down our being when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing watchers from coast to coast can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production news, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 U.S. release slate blends primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

From last-stand terror steeped in biblical myth to installment follow-ups together with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones through proven series, simultaneously SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs paired with mythic dread. On another front, independent banners is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. 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. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn 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 swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new terror Year Ahead: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, together with A jammed Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The upcoming horror year crowds immediately with a January glut, subsequently stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, creative pitches, and savvy calendar placement. Studios and streamers are prioritizing tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has established itself as the consistent move in studio lineups, a category that can break out when it breaks through and still hedge the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that cost-conscious fright engines can lead the discourse, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and critical darlings underscored there is room for many shades, from returning installments to original one-offs that resonate abroad. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across players, with intentional bunching, a pairing of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened stance on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the horror lane now slots in as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can bow on many corridors, provide a clean hook for trailers and TikTok spots, and over-index with demo groups that show up on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the offering hits. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration reflects belief in that equation. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that runs into spooky season and into the next week. The schedule also spotlights the tightening integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and grow at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just mounting another installment. They are aiming to frame connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that connects a new entry to a heyday. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and site-specific worlds. That interplay yields the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a legacy-leaning approach without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout fueled by brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic this content Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man activates an digital partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, makeup-driven approach can feel elevated on a moderate cost. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Look for 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 as a pair, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and have a peek here lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre hint at a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for 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 allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 thick, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that interrogates the horror of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set 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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing 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 extends again, with a new family bound to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.