Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An eerie spiritual fright fest from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an archaic force when strangers become victims in a fiendish game. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of survival and ancient evil that will redefine fear-driven cinema this season. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody feature follows five unknowns who come to sealed in a cut-off wooden structure under the malignant will of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a antiquated holy text monster. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a cinematic display that integrates visceral dread with mythic lore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary fixture in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the spirits no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from their core. This embodies the most terrifying dimension of the players. The result is a harrowing mental war where the events becomes a unyielding conflict between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken no-man's-land, five young people find themselves confined under the dark control and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to deny her manipulation, exiled and targeted by creatures beyond reason, they are confronted to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the moments relentlessly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and links disintegrate, requiring each protagonist to examine their core and the idea of decision-making itself. The threat escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that integrates otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into raw dread, an power from prehistory, working through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a presence that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences internationally can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these dark realities about the human condition.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and announcements via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup melds old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Running from endurance-driven terror steeped in ancient scripture and stretching into series comebacks in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, as streaming platforms saturate the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new terror slate: follow-ups, Originals, alongside A packed Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current horror season builds right away with a January wave, before it runs through summer corridors, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Studios and streamers are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that mid-range horror vehicles can own the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The upswing carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is appetite for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and platforms.

Marketers add the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can debut on almost any weekend, offer a quick sell for trailers and platform-native cuts, and over-index with crowds that appear on opening previews and hold through the sophomore frame if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores belief in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a front-loaded January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The arrangement also shows the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just making another return. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a tonal shift or a talent selection that threads a new installment to a early run. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay affords 2026 a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a fan-service aware mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an artificial companion that unfolds into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and short reels that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are set up as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned 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 reboots in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival grabs, securing horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch 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 as a pair, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when imp source the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without lulls.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which fit with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel key. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May my review here weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop 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 shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that leverages the terror of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title paranormal 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 genre lampoon that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. 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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, 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 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.