Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing October 2025 on global platforms

An eerie otherworldly suspense story from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten terror when unknowns become conduits in a supernatural ritual. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of survival and timeless dread that will revolutionize the horror genre this October. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five lost souls who wake up imprisoned in a wooded lodge under the dark will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a antiquated biblical demon. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a visual venture that merges visceral dread with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the fiends no longer form outside the characters, but rather from their core. This illustrates the shadowy shade of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the drama becomes a perpetual confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five youths find themselves trapped under the malevolent presence and spiritual invasion of a elusive female presence. As the team becomes submissive to oppose her command, abandoned and tracked by forces mind-shattering, they are forced to face their raw vulnerabilities while the time relentlessly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and bonds erode, requiring each survivor to rethink their self and the idea of free will itself. The consequences climb with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke core terror, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, emerging via emotional fractures, and examining a darkness that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that change is eerie because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences across the world can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this visceral exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, special features, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. calendar melds biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with returning-series thunder

Across survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture and stretching into series comebacks as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most textured plus intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners lay down anchors via recognizable brands, while subscription platforms flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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 platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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 opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, standalone ideas, plus A packed Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate crams early with a January glut, before it flows through the warm months, and carrying into the late-year period, braiding marquee clout, original angles, and calculated counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the most reliable move in release plans, a category that can expand when it breaks through and still buffer the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that modestly budgeted pictures can command cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with planned clusters, a harmony of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now slots in as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, offer a simple premise for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outpace with crowds that respond on preview nights and keep coming through the next pass if the film satisfies. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that approach. The calendar starts with a stacked January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a October build that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and roll out at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, real effects and concrete locations. That fusion gives 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push leaning on signature symbols, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror odd public stunts and brief clips that hybridizes romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel elevated on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, October hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering 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 angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre point to a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

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

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first 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 severe boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting scenario that manipulates the terror of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for 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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan entangled with old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced this content publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. 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: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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 target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 leverage those opportunities. 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 materiality, sound, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.