Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on global platforms

One hair-raising mystic thriller from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when unfamiliar people become tokens in a cursed maze. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of resistance and archaic horror that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy motion picture follows five characters who find themselves locked in a wooded shelter under the dark influence of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Be prepared to be seized by a cinematic presentation that fuses intense horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the fiends no longer develop from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This marks the deepest dimension of the group. The result is a intense mental war where the tension becomes a intense clash between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving forest, five individuals find themselves sealed under the fiendish sway and spiritual invasion of a uncanny apparition. As the cast becomes unresisting to evade her manipulation, cut off and pursued by terrors mind-shattering, they are driven to reckon with their soulful dreads while the time without pause edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension amplifies and alliances break, coercing each protagonist to rethink their values and the nature of independent thought itself. The consequences magnify with every instant, delivering a terror ride that blends supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into primal fear, an presence that existed before mankind, operating within emotional vulnerability, and questioning a darkness that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is eerie because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure subscribers no matter where they are can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to confront these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate braids together primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales infused with mythic scripture as well as returning series plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest together with calculated campaign year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios set cornerstones using marquee IP, as subscription platforms load up the fall with fresh voices paired with legend-coded dread. In parallel, the artisan tier is propelled by the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig with 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 wanes, Warner Bros. launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

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 is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real 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.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 fear year to come: Sequels, original films, alongside A jammed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The fresh scare slate clusters early with a January wave, after that extends through peak season, and pushing into the holiday frame, fusing brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are relying on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable release in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it connects and still protect the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 demonstrated to studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is a lane for different modes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on release windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that turn out on Thursday nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title lands. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration signals trust in that model. The calendar opens with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also reflects the greater integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and broaden at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. The companies are not just turning out another follow-up. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a talent selection that threads a next entry to a original cycle. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are favoring hands-on technique, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That blend affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short-form creative that mixes devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are marketed as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to lead 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led strategy can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can lift format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that boosts both launch urgency and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and programmed rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival snaps, timing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales Young & Cursed and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind the year’s horror point to a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that teases the unease of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded Get More Info forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.