Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An eerie paranormal scare-fest from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primeval terror when strangers become instruments in a fiendish ordeal. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of resistance and prehistoric entity that will redefine horror this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy story follows five young adults who awaken locked in a unreachable house under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead dominated by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Anticipate to be immersed by a screen-based ride that merges instinctive fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the malevolences no longer form beyond the self, but rather deep within. This represents the grimmest side of these individuals. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the plotline becomes a ongoing contest between moral forces.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five characters find themselves stuck under the evil dominion and grasp of a unknown figure. As the team becomes unable to resist her dominion, severed and tormented by spirits unimaginable, they are pushed to endure their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and links break, coercing each protagonist to reconsider their existence and the concept of volition itself. The risk accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into instinctual horror, an curse beyond time, feeding on mental cracks, and questioning a presence that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that change is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing fans internationally can face this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this life-altering descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these dark realities about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror sea change: the 2025 season domestic schedule weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, paired with franchise surges

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in old testament echoes to legacy revivals alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with blueprinted year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in parallel premium streamers pack the fall with new voices and mythic dread. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming genre year to come: follow-ups, new stories, And A stacked Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek: The new genre slate clusters up front with a January pile-up, subsequently rolls through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, fusing series momentum, novel approaches, and smart release strategy. The major players are committing to mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that turn these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has grown into the sturdy release in distribution calendars, a segment that can spike when it clicks and still limit the liability when it stumbles. After 2023 re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted genre plays can lead the national conversation, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The momentum carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is room for many shades, from returning installments to original features that scale internationally. The sum for 2026 is a run that shows rare alignment across players, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a reinvigorated strategy on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a swing piece on the slate. Horror can debut on open real estate, offer a simple premise for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with patrons that line up on advance nights and stick through the next weekend if the movie fires. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 plan telegraphs conviction in that approach. The calendar kicks off with a heavy January block, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a fall run that pushes into late October and past the holiday. The map also reflects the expanded integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that suggests a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a new installment to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are prioritizing physical effects work, special makeup and specific settings. That combination gives the 2026 slate a smart balance of trust and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a legacy-leaning angle without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign leaning on signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are have a peek at these guys back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit creepy live activations and brief clips that mixes companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are framed as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to maximize 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven mix can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and collection rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to drop and staging as events go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not deter a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that plays with the chill of a child’s shaky interpretations. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-supported and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled 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 detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. navigate here Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like 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 qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound field, and imagery 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.