Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense film from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval malevolence when outsiders become tokens in a demonic contest. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of survival and old world terror that will remodel scare flicks this cool-weather season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic screenplay follows five young adults who regain consciousness imprisoned in a isolated shack under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be gripped by a immersive adventure that weaves together gut-punch terror with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the demons no longer form from beyond, but rather from within. This embodies the most terrifying corner of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a relentless face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate terrain, five adults find themselves caught under the malevolent dominion and spiritual invasion of a secretive person. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to combat her power, abandoned and stalked by entities ungraspable, they are obligated to encounter their inner horrors while the moments ruthlessly draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and bonds disintegrate, demanding each individual to contemplate their personhood and the integrity of self-determination itself. The risk surge with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into raw dread, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via our fears, and highlighting a curse that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing audiences no matter where they are can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its initial teaser, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this haunted ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. release slate interlaces ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

From grit-forward survival fare drawn from near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the richest and intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives in concert with ancestral chills. On another front, indie storytellers is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 fright season: installments, non-franchise titles, plus A Crowded Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The brand-new horror cycle stacks early with a January logjam, subsequently stretches through summer, and far into the winter holidays, blending name recognition, new concepts, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that position genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has emerged as the predictable lever in studio lineups, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught executives that lean-budget shockers can steer the national conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and awards-minded projects proved there is a market for many shades, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the category now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, yield a tight logline for trailers and shorts, and punch above weight with demo groups that line up on first-look nights and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm reflects faith in that equation. The slate rolls out with a thick January block, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The program also spotlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that threads a upcoming film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and vivid settings. That fusion provides 2026 a lively combination of comfort and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a nostalgia-forward strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, early character teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit eerie street stunts and snackable content that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that enhances both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video balances licensed films with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, fright rows, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival pickups, locking in horror entries closer to launch and framing as events go-lives with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting 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 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 auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the team and cast is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that navigate here once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to 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.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that threads the dread through a child’s unsteady point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined ghost thriller.

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 genre lampoon that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. 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, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 modest-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 work those windows. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and cinematography 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.