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

A eerie spectral horror tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic horror when unrelated individuals become tools in a dark game. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of resilience and prehistoric entity that will reimagine genre cinema this fall. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic story follows five strangers who are stirred isolated in a isolated structure under the malignant grip of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be gripped by a screen-based spectacle that intertwines bodily fright with timeless legends, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the monsters no longer come from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This represents the grimmest part of the group. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the tension becomes a intense push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a haunting landscape, five friends find themselves sealed under the fiendish rule and spiritual invasion of a elusive being. As the survivors becomes unable to combat her rule, severed and tracked by unknowns unnamable, they are required to face their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline without pause pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and alliances erode, demanding each participant to challenge their existence and the idea of independent thought itself. The stakes rise with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that fuses ghostly evil with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon basic terror, an spirit from ancient eras, manipulating soul-level flaws, and testing a entity that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving customers around the globe can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Do not miss this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about the human condition.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and promotions via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 stateside slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from life-or-death fear inspired by near-Eastern lore and stretching into series comebacks paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified paired with precision-timed year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year with known properties, concurrently streamers prime the fall with new perspectives in concert with old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is riding the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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 such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror season: installments, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The arriving horror calendar crams up front with a January crush, after that extends through the summer months, and carrying into the festive period, mixing series momentum, fresh ideas, and data-minded counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that turn these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has established itself as the predictable release in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it performs and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded executives that responsibly budgeted scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is space for varied styles, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a spread of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a reinvigorated stance on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now functions as a flex slot on the release plan. Horror can debut on many corridors, create a easy sell for ad units and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that come out on advance nights and return through the week two if the feature connects. Following a production delay era, the 2026 pattern exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate commences with a heavy January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn stretch that stretches into All Hallows period and into early November. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across connected story worlds and heritage properties. The companies are not just pushing another chapter. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a roots-evoking mode without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that threads attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two series moves in the click to read more back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can boost large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival buys, confirming horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline 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 straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a dual release from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

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

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 difficult boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that refracts terror through a young child’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined 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 satirical comeback that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the this page other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, 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 target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 search for sleepers 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and framing 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 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.