Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on global platforms

One eerie supernatural shockfest from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic entity when passersby become vehicles in a devilish ordeal. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of endurance and archaic horror that will alter genre cinema this harvest season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric thriller follows five figures who arise ensnared in a far-off house under the menacing rule of Kyra, a central character possessed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be shaken by a big screen ride that harmonizes instinctive fear with legendary tales, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the presences no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the shadowy dimension of each of them. The result is a intense moral showdown where the drama becomes a constant conflict between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wild, five youths find themselves confined under the dark dominion and possession of a mysterious female figure. As the group becomes powerless to combat her manipulation, marooned and stalked by beings indescribable, they are cornered to face their emotional phantoms while the clock relentlessly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships dissolve, forcing each survivor to reconsider their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The danger mount with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken core terror, an entity older than civilization itself, operating within mental cracks, and confronting a power that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that turn is harrowing because it is so deep.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering viewers across the world can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this soul-jarring path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule integrates primeval-possession lore, underground frights, plus IP aftershocks

Across last-stand terror grounded in scriptural legend and onward to franchise returns and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified plus blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios stabilize the year via recognizable brands, at the same time platform operators crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancestral chills. On the festival side, the independent cohort is riding the carry of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

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. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. 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 appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: brand plays, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The arriving horror slate clusters from the jump with a January cluster, and then flows through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, combining legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical counterplay. Studios and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has proven to be the predictable swing in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still limit the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded studio brass that responsibly budgeted shockers can lead the national conversation, 2024 extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The run carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects confirmed there is room for varied styles, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The result for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across players, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now slots in as a swing piece on the calendar. Horror can launch on numerous frames, provide a tight logline for teasers and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that come out on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the movie delivers. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates assurance in that logic. The slate gets underway with a thick January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a September to October window that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The map also highlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both navigate here a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a legacy-leaning angle without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run centered on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will seek wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an AI companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit odd public stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around world-building, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both week-one demand and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about originals and festival additions, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is anchored enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a day-date move from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot consecutively, permits marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror point to a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first 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 tough boss push to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that filters its scares through a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 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 quiet breakout 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 pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.