Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

An terrifying mystic suspense film from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless nightmare when unrelated individuals become tools in a satanic ordeal. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of continuance and mythic evil that will revamp the fear genre this scare season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic thriller follows five individuals who regain consciousness ensnared in a hidden shelter under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be drawn in by a visual adventure that harmonizes bodily fright with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the fiends no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the shadowy shade of these individuals. The result is a relentless mind game where the narrative becomes a relentless conflict between right and wrong.


In a isolated natural abyss, five friends find themselves isolated under the evil aura and grasp of a unidentified figure. As the ensemble becomes powerless to reject her command, stranded and stalked by presences indescribable, they are confronted to deal with their core terrors while the doomsday meter brutally strikes toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and connections splinter, driving each figure to reconsider their core and the principle of personal agency itself. The hazard magnify with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore elemental fright, an entity before modern man, feeding on our weaknesses, and navigating a darkness that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that flip is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering customers globally can witness this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this soul-jarring descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and insider scoops from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror Turning Point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts fuses old-world possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with biblical myth as well as returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified and intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently OTT services prime the fall with new voices plus primordial unease. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is carried on the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig with 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. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows 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.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare lineup: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A busy Calendar Built For chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently flows through midyear, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has emerged as the steady play in release plans, a genre that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded leaders that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The trend rolled into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, provide a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outpace with viewers that respond on advance nights and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. Post a production delay era, the 2026 setup signals faith in that equation. The slate opens with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that stretches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also includes the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just making another chapter. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into practical craft, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That convergence provides 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a classic-referencing strategy without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are treated as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that fortifies both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries near launch and eventizing premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate 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 setup is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. 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 configuration is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not block a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror suggest a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month caps 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 real, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed 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.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when my review here packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting scenario that toys with the horror of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family bound to past horrors. Rating: pending. 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.