Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An terrifying metaphysical scare-fest from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old curse when guests become instruments in a diabolical trial. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody cinema piece follows five teens who awaken stuck in a secluded house under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a ancient biblical demon. Be warned to be captivated by a theatrical event that integrates bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the spirits no longer form outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This marks the most hidden shade of these individuals. The result is a harrowing mental war where the tension becomes a unyielding push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly sway and curse of a shadowy character. As the protagonists becomes powerless to resist her grasp, exiled and stalked by presences beyond comprehension, they are confronted to stand before their darkest emotions while the time harrowingly pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and connections dissolve, compelling each soul to evaluate their values and the nature of decision-making itself. The consequences grow with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into elemental fright, an entity before modern man, emerging via inner turmoil, and confronting a being that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing horror lovers internationally can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Witness this gripping spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these ghostly lessons about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across media channels and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate fuses primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survival horror steeped in mythic scripture through to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the richest as well as precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, in tandem subscription platforms load up the fall with emerging auteurs as well as mythic dread. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is riding the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, standalone ideas, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle clusters early with a January bottleneck, after that rolls through midyear, and far into the late-year period, marrying series momentum, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are betting on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has grown into the predictable tool in programming grids, a genre that can scale when it connects and still hedge the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that mid-range genre plays can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and new pitches, and a reinvigorated attention on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the category now operates like a versatile piece on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on most weekends, provide a easy sell for creative and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that appear on advance nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the feature satisfies. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 plan exhibits faith in that playbook. The year commences with a heavy January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween frame and into November. The arrangement also shows the deeper integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across shared universes and heritage properties. The companies are not just making another return. They are moving to present lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that threads a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the alongside this, the helmers behind the marquee originals are favoring real-world builds, special makeup and specific settings. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and freshness, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a roots-evoking bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will build wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the Universal machine likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a raw, hands-on effects execution can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror jolt that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is describing as a fresh 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 loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around world-building, and monster design, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that enhances both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined 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. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years outline the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium large format. get redirected here In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed 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 brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. 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 grieving man’s digital partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 domestic haunting premise that routes the horror through a minor’s uneven POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and star-fronted supernatural 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 send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, acoustics, and visuals 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 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.