Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

One eerie otherworldly suspense film from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric malevolence when unrelated individuals become subjects in a dark conflict. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of endurance and prehistoric entity that will revamp genre cinema this October. Directed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody screenplay follows five individuals who wake up isolated in a hidden shelter under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a biblical-era biblical force. Prepare to be absorbed by a immersive venture that merges raw fear with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing theme in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most primal side of the cast. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a unyielding clash between innocence and sin.


In a isolated wild, five teens find themselves cornered under the ghastly dominion and domination of a unidentified apparition. As the companions becomes powerless to withstand her rule, severed and chased by presences ungraspable, they are confronted to stand before their soulful dreads while the hours without pause runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and bonds disintegrate, demanding each soul to scrutinize their self and the nature of volition itself. The hazard surge with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover core terror, an entity from prehistory, feeding on mental cracks, and highlighting a force that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that change is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing customers globally can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Join this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these unholy truths about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate melds biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, and series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in biblical myth and onward to series comebacks as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified as well as calculated campaign year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles with established lines, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with fresh voices alongside ancestral chills. In parallel, the independent cohort is buoyed by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The 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 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

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. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. 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 oncoming scare Year Ahead: returning titles, non-franchise titles, And A busy Calendar engineered for nightmares

Dek The brand-new terror slate stacks right away with a January wave, before it extends through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, weaving series momentum, novel approaches, and shrewd counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that convert these releases into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the predictable release in release plans, a segment that can break out when it catches and still buffer the losses when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that lean-budget chillers can steer cultural conversation, the following year held pace with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where returns and awards-minded projects proved there is space for varied styles, from continued chapters to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across studios, with strategic blocks, a blend of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a refocused commitment on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Insiders argue the category now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, create a sharp concept for ad units and TikTok spots, and over-index with crowds that arrive on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the offering hits. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping signals comfort in that engine. The year gets underway with a loaded January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a autumn stretch that flows toward Halloween and afterwards. The map also illustrates the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and scale up at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across shared universes and heritage properties. The players are not just releasing another sequel. They are trying to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a refreshed voice or a talent selection that anchors a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are championing material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a handoff and a rootsy character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a legacy-leaning angle without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format fitting quick switches to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and short reels that hybridizes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 explicit mandate to serve both diehards and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and creature work, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both debut momentum and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video blends library titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using featured rows, horror hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival additions, securing horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select Check This Out projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot 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 whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps frame the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not foreclose a dual release from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band news trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Get More Info Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that threads the dread through a little one’s shifting inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound field, 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.