Primordial Dread Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

One spine-tingling occult scare-fest from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial entity when unknowns become pawns in a demonic trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense chronicle of endurance and mythic evil that will alter scare flicks this harvest season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five unknowns who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable shelter under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a legendary biblical demon. Steel yourself to be shaken by a narrative presentation that intertwines primitive horror with ancestral stories, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer descend from an outside force, but rather from their core. This suggests the most sinister shade of the protagonists. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the story becomes a unforgiving struggle between innocence and sin.


In a isolated outland, five adults find themselves confined under the evil sway and haunting of a mysterious spirit. As the youths becomes paralyzed to withstand her influence, left alone and pursued by unknowns indescribable, they are confronted to reckon with their worst nightmares while the countdown coldly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and friendships erode, prompting each individual to evaluate their essence and the principle of liberty itself. The pressure grow with every instant, delivering a terror ride that merges demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore elemental fright, an force beyond time, emerging via inner turmoil, and dealing with a entity that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing streamers internationally can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup blends legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning grit-forward survival fare drawn from legendary theology to returning series in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered in tandem with blueprinted year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios hold down the year via recognizable brands, in tandem premium streamers crowd the fall with fresh voices together with ancient terrors. On another front, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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 to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 scare calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A packed Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The new horror slate clusters early with a January glut, and then carries through the summer months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are leaning into cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable swing in release strategies, a pillar that can expand when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to top brass that responsibly budgeted entries can command mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The trend carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films confirmed there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a combination of familiar brands and new concepts, and a recommitted attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for ad units and short-form placements, and punch above weight with patrons that come out on early shows and hold through the next pass if the offering delivers. Coming out of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout reflects comfort in that equation. The calendar starts with a heavy January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a autumn push that flows toward late October and beyond. The grid also spotlights the deeper integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can build gradually, create conversation, and grow at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Studios are not just releasing another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that links a upcoming film to a first wave. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring hands-on technique, real effects and vivid settings. That blend produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing framework without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run centered on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. Get More Info The hook is tight, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that evolves into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that mixes longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to dominate 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can increase format premiums and fan-forward 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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 demanding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that frames the panic through a youngster’s volatile perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 comic send-up that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 quiet 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.