Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An frightening otherworldly fear-driven tale from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval dread when foreigners become vehicles in a fiendish ritual. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of overcoming and archaic horror that will alter horror this cool-weather season. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody feature follows five lost souls who find themselves stuck in a off-grid hideaway under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a legendary sacred-era entity. Be warned to be hooked by a screen-based presentation that combines raw fear with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the fiends no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This suggests the malevolent part of the victims. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the events becomes a perpetual clash between innocence and sin.


In a haunting natural abyss, five individuals find themselves contained under the ominous effect and curse of a mysterious apparition. As the victims becomes unresisting to break her curse, detached and pursued by forces ungraspable, they are confronted to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the deathwatch relentlessly strikes toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and ties shatter, prompting each protagonist to contemplate their existence and the idea of personal agency itself. The risk grow with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke primal fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, working through emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a evil that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers from coast to coast can witness this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this cinematic ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these dark realities about the soul.


For film updates, director cuts, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. release slate fuses old-world possession, underground frights, plus brand-name tremors

From life-or-death fear infused with ancient scripture and extending to IP renewals and surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the richest combined with blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel OTT services load up the fall with discovery plays set against old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is catching the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed 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 should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror season: entries, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror cycle builds right away with a January wave, before it runs through the summer months, and continuing into the holidays, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterweight. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has established itself as the sturdy option in distribution calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After 2023 showed buyers that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The trend translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is appetite for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with mapped-out bands, a mix of household franchises and untested plays, and a recommitted commitment on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the category now behaves like a fill-in ace on the grid. The genre can launch on most weekends, create a easy sell for ad units and vertical videos, and outpace with fans that come out on first-look nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the feature pays off. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup underscores certainty in that logic. The slate starts with a stacked January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of indie distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and classic IP. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a lead change that connects a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to hands-on technique, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence gives 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and snackable content that fuses love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-first style can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror hit that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in careful craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects have a peek here with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle 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 sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a parallel release from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror signal a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, horror The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once Young & Cursed was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 unyielding boss push to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that manipulates the terror of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning 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: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family caught in ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated 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, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first shock 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, 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 visual texture, 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 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.