Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This blood-curdling unearthly nightmare movie from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten fear when unknowns become instruments in a dark contest. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping saga of survival and mythic evil that will reshape terror storytelling this season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic tale follows five people who come to imprisoned in a isolated cabin under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a central character controlled by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be captivated by a screen-based display that melds deep-seated panic with ancient myths, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer arise from external sources, but rather within themselves. This portrays the haunting corner of these individuals. The result is a relentless emotional conflict where the tension becomes a relentless conflict between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five souls find themselves stuck under the unholy aura and haunting of a enigmatic spirit. As the victims becomes vulnerable to reject her control, stranded and targeted by forces beyond comprehension, they are made to endure their darkest emotions while the deathwatch unforgivingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and associations shatter, requiring each soul to doubt their personhood and the foundation of personal agency itself. The cost magnify with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover instinctual horror, an spirit before modern man, operating within inner turmoil, and examining a will that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the curse activates, and that turn is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring subscribers across the world can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Do not miss this haunted descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these dark realities about inner darkness.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror tipping point: the year 2025 U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, set against tentpole growls

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with ancient scripture and extending to IP renewals as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most complex in tandem with blueprinted year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios set cornerstones with known properties, as OTT services load up the fall with emerging auteurs set against ancient terrors. In parallel, the art-house flank is riding the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed 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 hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts 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 initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 terror slate: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for screams

Dek: The incoming horror cycle clusters early with a January crush, following that extends through the mid-year, and running into the holidays, marrying legacy muscle, untold stories, and data-minded counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that transform these pictures into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio lineups, a corner that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the liability when it falls short. After the 2023 year reminded leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can own social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The run flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings signaled there is room for many shades, from franchise continuations to original features that travel well. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a combination of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a versatile piece on the release plan. The genre can launch on numerous frames, offer a clear pitch for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on early shows and maintain momentum through the week two if the offering hits. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence exhibits belief in that logic. The slate opens with a crowded January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween corridor and into November. The calendar also reflects the tightening integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Distribution groups are not just turning out another installment. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a fresh attitude or a casting choice that threads a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to renew eerie street stunts and quick hits that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, in-camera leaning execution can feel elevated on a tight budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing 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 clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with award possibilities. 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 cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind these films signal a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps 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 credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect 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.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 reconception that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that channels the fear through a kid’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family linked to old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: news to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, 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 leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.