Primeval Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

An unnerving paranormal suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when unknowns become tokens in a cursed contest. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of overcoming and age-old darkness that will redefine scare flicks this harvest season. Visualized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and tone-heavy film follows five lost souls who snap to stuck in a remote cottage under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a timeless scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be shaken by a big screen outing that blends bone-deep fear with ancient myths, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the beings no longer form from elsewhere, but rather internally. This marks the shadowy part of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the events becomes a unforgiving conflict between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving woodland, five friends find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the protagonists becomes incapable to oppose her command, disconnected and followed by creatures impossible to understand, they are driven to face their deepest fears while the doomsday meter relentlessly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease mounts and friendships shatter, pressuring each individual to scrutinize their identity and the nature of independent thought itself. The consequences rise with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into raw dread, an evil that predates humanity, manifesting in human fragility, and testing a darkness that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing households across the world can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this haunted descent into darkness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and alerts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 domestic schedule integrates primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, together with tentpole growls

Spanning life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most complex and tactically planned year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as streamers prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside mythic dread. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is catching the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

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

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

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

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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 success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming spook release year: follow-ups, Originals, plus A Crowded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The arriving horror calendar packs early with a January wave, from there rolls through the summer months, and pushing into the December corridor, mixing brand heft, inventive spins, and data-minded counterplay. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that position these releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has proven to be the predictable swing in distribution calendars, a lane that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that lean-budget chillers can drive audience talk, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and critical darlings underscored there is room for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to fresh IP that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a blend of established brands and untested plays, and a renewed eye on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the horror lane now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for previews and short-form placements, and punch above weight with fans that lean in on previews Thursday and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the offering hits. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout signals certainty in that logic. The year opens with a crowded January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that extends to spooky season and into the next week. The schedule also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just pushing another sequel. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are leaning into hands-on technique, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two marquee entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a roots-evoking campaign without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout driven by signature symbols, character previews, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that escalates into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay eerie street stunts and brief clips that threads intimacy and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are treated as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror jolt that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can stoke large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in historical precision and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that expands both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries near their drops and staging as events go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as click to read more production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss try to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that manipulates the fright of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, Source opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror my review here delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and cinematography 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 scares sell the seats.