Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

An chilling unearthly fear-driven tale from dramatist / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old curse when unfamiliar people become puppets in a hellish ritual. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of staying alive and archaic horror that will revamp the fear genre this scare season. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five individuals who emerge confined in a far-off house under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be enthralled by a audio-visual event that weaves together deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the most primal dimension of all involved. The result is a harrowing mental war where the intensity becomes a brutal conflict between heaven and hell.


In a remote backcountry, five teens find themselves confined under the unholy dominion and haunting of a unknown female figure. As the team becomes unable to fight her command, cut off and tormented by presences mind-shattering, they are confronted to wrestle with their soulful dreads while the timeline relentlessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and ties fracture, coercing each character to contemplate their core and the concept of volition itself. The danger rise with every second, delivering a horror experience that merges unearthly horror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into pure dread, an malevolence older than civilization itself, emerging via fragile psyche, and confronting a evil that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers in all regions can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, set against legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks plus focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex and precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios set cornerstones with established lines, as SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. At the same time, the independent cohort is catching the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to 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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends Worth Watching

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

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming fear year to come: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming horror calendar stacks at the outset with a January cluster, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterplay. Studios and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that elevate these releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still protect the drag when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to studio brass that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries showed there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and new packages, and a sharpened strategy on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can premiere on many corridors, offer a clean hook for trailers and social clips, and lead with demo groups that appear on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the feature pays off. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates comfort in that model. The calendar commences with a crowded January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a autumn push that extends to holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The gridline also includes the increasing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is series management across unified worlds and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are shaping as story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that threads a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are returning to in-camera technique, practical gags and vivid settings. That alloy yields 2026 a robust balance of comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate projects 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 lead, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a throwback-friendly strategy without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an digital partner that mutates into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and quick hits that interweaves affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, practical-first treatment can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror shot that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can stoke large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that enhances both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival additions, slotting horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years announce the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and grow scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate point to a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that toys with the horror of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. 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 period language and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. 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, movies a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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 warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.