Age-old Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across major platforms

A haunting otherworldly terror film from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried nightmare when unfamiliar people become proxies in a dark conflict. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of continuance and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize genre cinema this fall. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody story follows five characters who snap to isolated in a wilderness-bound cottage under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Be prepared to be drawn in by a cinematic experience that intertwines gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the forces no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This mirrors the most sinister aspect of the players. The result is a harrowing mental war where the plotline becomes a unyielding battle between virtue and vice.


In a bleak outland, five friends find themselves isolated under the possessive effect and haunting of a secretive female figure. As the group becomes helpless to fight her rule, abandoned and stalked by evils beyond comprehension, they are compelled to reckon with their inner demons while the countdown unceasingly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and relationships fracture, pushing each protagonist to challenge their personhood and the principle of conscious will itself. The danger intensify with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that blends occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon primitive panic, an evil from prehistory, operating within fragile psyche, and highlighting a evil that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing households from coast to coast can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these chilling revelations about existence.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate braids together old-world possession, art-house nightmares, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with last-stand terror drawn from ancient scripture and stretching into returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted and blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as subscription platforms pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is carried on the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp opens the year with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside 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. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology 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. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new spook calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The upcoming horror calendar packs early with a January pile-up, thereafter rolls through the summer months, and pushing into the winter holidays, mixing series momentum, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Studios and streamers are embracing lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that transform these films into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has solidified as the sturdy swing in studio calendars, a corner that can grow when it connects and still hedge the floor when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that low-to-mid budget shockers can drive cultural conversation, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The tailwind rolled into 2025, where resurrections and elevated films underscored there is appetite for several lanes, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across the market, with intentional bunching, a pairing of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a sharpened eye on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now slots in as a versatile piece on the schedule. Horror can arrive on almost any weekend, furnish a quick sell for teasers and vertical videos, and overperform with patrons that appear on preview nights and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the feature works. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup telegraphs faith in that engine. The calendar kicks off with a weighty January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall corridor that stretches into late October and into early November. The gridline also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and expand at the strategic time.

An added macro current is brand curation across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. Studios are not just producing another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that indicates a reframed mood or a talent selection that binds a fresh chapter to a early run. At the very same time, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating real-world builds, on-set effects and vivid settings. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and this contact form mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by classic imagery, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will drive wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to renew uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that melds love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are presented as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Expect a splatter summer horror shot that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around canon, and creature work, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 centered on minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, dating horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together 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 straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Plan on 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 small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a check over here French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not preclude a parallel release from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed consecutively, permits marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which favor convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic click to read more showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is packed. 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 caps 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 thick, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 difficult boss work to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that pipes the unease through a youngster’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and star-fronted paranormal 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 riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. 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 period language and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter 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 dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.