Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

This bone-chilling supernatural fright fest from cinematographer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric force when strangers become pawns in a devilish ritual. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish story of struggle and primordial malevolence that will remodel horror this season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic story follows five people who come to imprisoned in a far-off wooden structure under the malignant power of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a ancient sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic spectacle that merges soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This depicts the most primal part of the protagonists. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the plotline becomes a perpetual battle between virtue and vice.


In a desolate forest, five youths find themselves marooned under the dark presence and spiritual invasion of a unidentified being. As the ensemble becomes unable to oppose her curse, stranded and pursued by powers mind-shattering, they are forced to acknowledge their inner horrors while the doomsday meter mercilessly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and ties crack, urging each member to contemplate their true nature and the idea of volition itself. The stakes amplify with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that integrates otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract primitive panic, an spirit older than civilization itself, manifesting in fragile psyche, and wrestling with a force that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers globally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these dark realities about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and social posts directly from production, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s Turning Point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts interlaces old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare grounded in ancient scripture and onward to brand-name continuations set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, at the same time platform operators saturate the fall with debut heat set against mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. 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 appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
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 exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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



The coming 2026 Horror cycle: next chapters, new stories, in tandem with A busy Calendar Built For chills

Dek The incoming horror season lines up at the outset with a January cluster, then rolls through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are leaning into tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has turned into the steady swing in studio slates, a pillar that can grow when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it does not. After 2023 showed executives that efficiently budgeted chillers can own mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays underscored there is a market for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a harmony of legacy names and new packages, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a clean hook for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and continue through the next weekend if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows belief in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a heavy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a fall run that runs into the Halloween frame and beyond. The grid also underscores the continuing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and roll out at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across linked properties and storied titles. The companies are not just mounting another sequel. They are looking to package story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that signals a recalibrated tone or a star attachment that binds a next film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the top original plays are doubling down on practical craft, on-set effects and grounded locations. That mix hands 2026 a robust balance of trust and shock, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects execution can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around mythos, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers 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 draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not prevent a dual release from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga have a peek at this web-site demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 filmed in sequence, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued tilt 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 complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 in-home haunting piece that threads the dread through a youth’s unreliable point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. 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 time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and camera work 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.