Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

A chilling otherworldly suspense film from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten dread when newcomers become puppets in a supernatural experiment. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of living through and old world terror that will resculpt scare flicks this autumn. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves ensnared in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be shaken by a immersive presentation that harmonizes intense horror with timeless legends, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the forces no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from their core. This represents the most sinister part of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the story becomes a constant struggle between virtue and vice.


In a isolated woodland, five young people find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly influence and overtake of a mysterious entity. As the survivors becomes unable to deny her dominion, isolated and preyed upon by beings beyond comprehension, they are confronted to battle their inner demons while the seconds ruthlessly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and friendships erode, requiring each person to contemplate their identity and the foundation of volition itself. The pressure grow with every beat, delivering a horror experience that merges otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract primitive panic, an malevolence from ancient eras, feeding on human fragility, and questioning a spirit that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans from coast to coast can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Witness this bone-rattling descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, plus series shake-ups

Beginning with life-or-death fear saturated with near-Eastern lore to franchise returns plus surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated together with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors stabilize the year with familiar IP, in tandem SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays paired with ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new scare season: follow-ups, new stories, as well as A Crowded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The upcoming genre season stacks right away with a January bottleneck, before it rolls through the mid-year, and deep into the December corridor, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and well-timed release strategy. Studios and streamers are betting on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that shape the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the dependable lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into 2025, where legacy revivals and elevated films confirmed there is demand for varied styles, from series extensions to original one-offs that perform internationally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that reads highly synchronized across the field, with clear date clusters, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a utility player on the release plan. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, yield a grabby hook for previews and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that show up on Thursday nights and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the movie hits. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects certainty in that playbook. The year kicks off with a weighty January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall run that carries into late October and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the ongoing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across ongoing universes and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that bridges a latest entry to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the top original plays are championing tactile craft, physical gags and site-specific worlds. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of assurance and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a fan-service aware treatment without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that this contact form mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise eerie street stunts and snackable content that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are treated as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a tight budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror jolt that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing 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 fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

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 the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival additions, slotting horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not hamper a dual release from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down 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 legit, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks 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 heartbroken man’s synthetic partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that leverages the fear of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and celebrity-led supernatural 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 reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 left-field winner 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 austere, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined footprints, 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 texture, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.