Ancient Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless dread when newcomers become victims in a demonic maze. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of overcoming and ancient evil that will resculpt the horror genre this ghoul season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five strangers who wake up isolated in a far-off shack under the ominous influence of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a ancient holy text monster. Brace yourself to be shaken by a narrative experience that merges gut-punch terror with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the beings no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This depicts the shadowy corner of the group. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a ongoing battle between light and darkness.


In a abandoned backcountry, five young people find themselves trapped under the fiendish force and possession of a uncanny being. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to oppose her command, left alone and tracked by powers unnamable, they are confronted to face their greatest panics while the deathwatch relentlessly moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and teams implode, driving each individual to reflect on their character and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The cost surge with every instant, delivering a horror experience that blends otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into ancestral fear, an spirit that predates humanity, manipulating human fragility, and questioning a darkness that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that audiences around the globe can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this life-altering descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these ghostly lessons about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in ancient scripture through to installment follow-ups in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered combined with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, as premium streamers stack the fall with fresh voices alongside old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting 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.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming Horror lineup: Sequels, non-franchise titles, alongside A busy Calendar designed for Scares

Dek: The new scare cycle loads immediately with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and pushing into the festive period, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to leaders that mid-range scare machines can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays underscored there is an opening for different modes, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the industry, with obvious clusters, a spread of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, create a grabby hook for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with audiences that appear on first-look nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping reflects conviction in that setup. The year kicks off with a stacked January window, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a fall run that carries into the fright window and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that anchors a new entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend delivers 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring bent without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in iconic art, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to revisit odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a raw, physical-effects centered execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision releases and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway 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 setup is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Keep an eye on 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 as partners, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps announce the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January Get More Info 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 shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion 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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 home-set haunting setup that mediates the fear via a youngster’s flickering point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 breakout hunt 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.