Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, landing October 2025 across top streamers

An frightening otherworldly thriller from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old horror when newcomers become pawns in a supernatural ceremony. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of overcoming and old world terror that will reimagine genre cinema this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie feature follows five unknowns who wake up trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the menacing rule of Kyra, a central character controlled by a timeless biblical force. Prepare to be absorbed by a audio-visual venture that combines intense horror with mystical narratives, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the presences no longer form from an outside force, but rather inside them. This marks the most terrifying shade of the players. The result is a harrowing identity crisis where the tension becomes a constant clash between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five characters find themselves sealed under the possessive control and infestation of a mysterious figure. As the victims becomes unresisting to escape her will, left alone and stalked by terrors impossible to understand, they are compelled to acknowledge their core terrors while the clock unforgivingly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties erode, pushing each participant to rethink their identity and the concept of personal agency itself. The threat accelerate with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract core terror, an evil that predates humanity, feeding on fragile psyche, and confronting a darkness that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users in all regions can enjoy this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this heart-stopping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these terrifying truths about human nature.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate braids together old-world possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside franchise surges

Spanning life-or-death fear inspired by ancient scripture all the way to canon extensions in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered and strategic year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, in parallel digital services prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is propelled by the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered 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. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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 reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, 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 opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

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

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: installments, standalone ideas, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The arriving horror calendar crams in short order with a January glut, after that extends through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, braiding brand equity, creative pitches, and strategic alternatives. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that shape horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable option in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing translated to 2025, where re-entries and critical darlings underscored there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with planned clusters, a harmony of brand names and new concepts, and a tightened emphasis on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and platforms.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can open on virtually any date, supply a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and outstrip with ticket buyers that appear on Thursday previews and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the entry hits. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects confidence in that equation. The year opens with a crowded January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while holding room for a fall corridor that reaches into spooky season and beyond. The program also shows the increasing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and expand at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. The studios are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are moving to present lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a original cycle. At the very same time, the directors behind the most watched originals are embracing on-set craft, real effects and site-specific worlds. That mix hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and shock, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that optimizes both FOMO and subscription bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and staging as events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven 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 usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched 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 impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that explores the fear of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise my review here speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.