Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An terrifying otherworldly suspense film from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic evil when outsiders become subjects in a malevolent contest. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of endurance and age-old darkness that will alter terror storytelling this Halloween season. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic fearfest follows five unknowns who awaken ensnared in a off-grid lodge under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be captivated by a cinematic journey that harmonizes deep-seated panic with folklore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the malevolences no longer appear from beyond, but rather internally. This represents the malevolent dimension of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing conflict between purity and corruption.


In a remote backcountry, five youths find themselves cornered under the malicious sway and inhabitation of a obscure woman. As the youths becomes powerless to fight her manipulation, disconnected and tracked by creatures inconceivable, they are thrust to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the moments ruthlessly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and teams fracture, coercing each soul to doubt their personhood and the idea of personal agency itself. The intensity surge with every breath, delivering a horror experience that merges unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract basic terror, an evil from prehistory, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and examining a force that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that turn is shocking because it is so internal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers everywhere can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these terrifying truths about the mind.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar melds archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, and brand-name tremors

Spanning endurance-driven terror suffused with legendary theology all the way to series comebacks plus surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted plus blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors set cornerstones through proven series, simultaneously platform operators prime the fall with discovery plays set against primordial unease. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal starts the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 grind for attention. Expect one or more 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching Horror year to come: returning titles, new stories, plus A busy Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The arriving horror season lines up at the outset with a January cluster, thereafter runs through midyear, and deep into the holiday frame, fusing legacy muscle, original angles, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to lean spends, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that position the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has emerged as the consistent option in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it clicks and still safeguard the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to studio brass that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum fed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is room for a spectrum, from continued chapters to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across companies, with intentional bunching, a balance of known properties and new packages, and a renewed priority on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and digital services.

Planners observe the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can open on virtually any date, deliver a clear pitch for spots and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that turn out on preview nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the offering lands. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits faith in that dynamic. The calendar launches with a thick January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a fall corridor that connects to the Halloween frame and into November. The grid also underscores the increasing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the timely point.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across shared universes and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another entry. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that announces a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating physical effects work, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a solid mix of recognition and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a throwback-friendly angle without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that mixes longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a raw, on-set effects led mix can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that expands both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video balances acquired titles with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival wins, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with wider appeal. 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 safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not block a dual release from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Get More Info Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which favor booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

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 big-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. my review here Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that filters its scares through a young child’s shifting point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. 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 useful reference cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.