Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

One unnerving metaphysical scare-fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten force when unrelated individuals become vehicles in a devilish experiment. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of survival and archaic horror that will alter fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five unknowns who come to trapped in a unreachable structure under the dark influence of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a ancient biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive event that integrates deep-seated panic with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the spirits no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This depicts the deepest side of the cast. The result is a riveting mental war where the emotions becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves contained under the fiendish presence and infestation of a uncanny female figure. As the characters becomes incapable to fight her manipulation, detached and chased by forces indescribable, they are cornered to encounter their greatest panics while the deathwatch unforgivingly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and bonds implode, pressuring each individual to evaluate their true nature and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The cost amplify with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that fuses unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to draw upon primitive panic, an entity beyond time, influencing our weaknesses, and examining a being that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that evolution is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers in all regions can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this visceral ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For bonus footage, production news, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, alongside franchise surges

Ranging from last-stand terror drawn from ancient scripture and including IP renewals together with acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with deliberate year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, concurrently streaming platforms pack the fall with debut heat and scriptural shivers. In parallel, indie storytellers is propelled by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling 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 plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: 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 work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No canon weight. 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 this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 genre cycle: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A packed Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The upcoming genre season crowds in short order with a January cluster, subsequently runs through the mid-year, and well into the festive period, balancing legacy muscle, untold stories, and calculated release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are doubling down on efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that convert genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has grown into the dependable release in studio calendars, a category that can lift when it lands and still mitigate the floor when it does not. After 2023 reconfirmed for studio brass that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The run pushed into 2025, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers showed there is space for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a combination of recognizable IP and novel angles, and a reinvigorated emphasis on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can open on numerous frames, supply a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with patrons that show up on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering works. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year launches with a crowded January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while holding room for a autumn push that flows toward the fright window and past Halloween. The program also spotlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and scale up at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studios are not just pushing another follow-up. They are shaping as lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on material texture, special makeup and specific settings. That mix affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of comfort and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning framework without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit creepy live activations and short reels that fuses companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre indicate a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday weblink card usage.

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that refracts terror through a kid’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family entangled with past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and image-making 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.