Age-old Dread Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, rolling out Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

This unnerving mystic nightmare movie from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic force when unfamiliar people become conduits in a demonic trial. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of resistance and primordial malevolence that will redefine genre cinema this autumn. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy film follows five unknowns who snap to sealed in a secluded dwelling under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be gripped by a immersive event that merges raw fear with legendary tales, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the spirits no longer develop outside the characters, but rather inside them. This depicts the shadowy layer of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the tension becomes a relentless push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote wild, five friends find themselves marooned under the evil influence and curse of a haunted female presence. As the companions becomes paralyzed to fight her curse, cut off and preyed upon by forces mind-shattering, they are pushed to stand before their core terrors while the seconds ruthlessly pushes forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and friendships fracture, requiring each soul to scrutinize their personhood and the notion of free will itself. The cost mount with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that marries paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into deep fear, an threat rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through our fears, and dealing with a will that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing users across the world can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Experience this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For teasers, special features, and social posts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

From survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology to series comebacks plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most complex combined with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses stabilize the year using marquee IP, at the same time streaming platforms prime the fall with debut heat set against ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is riding the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. 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, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming spook lineup: Sequels, Originals, paired with A brimming Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The fresh scare season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, and then extends through summer corridors, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studios with streamers are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that pivot these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent lever in studio lineups, a corner that can spike when it connects and still limit the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that efficiently budgeted shockers can galvanize pop culture, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays underscored there is an opening for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a sharpened stance on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with crowds that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering works. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence exhibits certainty in that playbook. The year starts with a weighty January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a September to October window that extends to spooky season and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and move wide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and long-running brands. The players are not just producing another installment. They are setting up lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a next film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That blend affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of recognition and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a nostalgia-forward approach without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push driven by heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt general-audience talk through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that escalates into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise eerie street stunts and micro spots that interweaves longing and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are framed as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival wins, securing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title useful reference basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries 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 produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind these films forecast a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. 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 loss-struck man’s digital partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that routes the horror through a young child’s flickering point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 parody return that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 the 2026 timing works

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The underdog chase 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.