Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

This frightening spiritual thriller from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a supernatural contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of living through and archaic horror that will resculpt the fear genre this Halloween season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric thriller follows five individuals who suddenly rise stranded in a secluded shelter under the aggressive command of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a filmic ride that unites deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a enduring foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the spirits no longer come outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This marks the most hidden side of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing battle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five teens find themselves contained under the malicious grip and spiritual invasion of a obscure woman. As the youths becomes incapable to combat her manipulation, abandoned and targeted by entities impossible to understand, they are forced to deal with their worst nightmares while the seconds without pause moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and associations break, requiring each survivor to reflect on their being and the notion of conscious will itself. The hazard mount with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that weaves together demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into core terror, an curse from prehistory, influencing human fragility, and dealing with a spirit that questions who we are when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans from coast to coast can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus American release plan integrates archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, plus brand-name tremors

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with scriptural legend and onward to installment follow-ups plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with deliberate year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, in tandem SVOD players load up the fall with new perspectives and legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the independent cohort is propelled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: 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. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to 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.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

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’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the 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 must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new spook season: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The arriving terror season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, and then carries through June and July, and deep into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, new voices, and strategic counterprogramming. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing smart costs, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has proven to be the sturdy move in programming grids, a pillar that can surge when it resonates and still protect the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reassured executives that responsibly budgeted fright engines can command pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is room for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the field, with clear date clusters, a harmony of established brands and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated stance on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for ad units and vertical videos, and outstrip with fans that arrive on preview nights and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the film hits. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a October build that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and move wide at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is brand management across shared universes and heritage properties. The companies are not just turning out another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that announces a reframed mood or a cast configuration that anchors a next entry to a early run. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are championing physical effects work, special makeup and vivid settings. That mix provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two prominent titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward angle without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected centered on legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil More about the author Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, practical-first style can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach 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 well-defined brief to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can boost large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 defined by meticulous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that expands both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max Young & Cursed and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival additions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid 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+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a standard theatrical run for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps clarify the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes 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 credible, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that explores the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: get redirected here date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime 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 deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, and camera work 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.