Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

An haunting supernatural suspense film from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric force when passersby become tools in a cursed ritual. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of continuance and forgotten curse that will reshape scare flicks this spooky time. Realized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic motion picture follows five individuals who are stirred locked in a far-off shelter under the ominous rule of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be seized by a audio-visual display that integrates raw fear with mystical narratives, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the forces no longer originate outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the most hidden shade of the victims. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the evil grip and inhabitation of a obscure being. As the companions becomes paralyzed to combat her manipulation, detached and tormented by presences impossible to understand, they are pushed to stand before their inner demons while the countdown mercilessly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and associations implode, compelling each soul to scrutinize their values and the concept of self-determination itself. The pressure mount with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that combines spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore pure dread, an force that predates humanity, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and confronting a spirit that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that flip is harrowing because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers everywhere can survive this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this cinematic voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these dark realities about free will.


For previews, director cuts, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the official website.





American horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

From last-stand terror steeped in old testament echoes through to legacy revivals set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios bookend the months with known properties, even as premium streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives in concert with scriptural shivers. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with 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.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching fear calendar year ahead: brand plays, Originals, and also A brimming Calendar tailored for screams

Dek: The fresh horror year builds immediately with a January crush, before it runs through the summer months, and carrying into the winter holidays, braiding franchise firepower, novel approaches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are embracing mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that convert horror entries into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy release in studio slates, a category that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of recognizable IP and new packages, and a renewed priority on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can debut on numerous frames, generate a clean hook for previews and social clips, and overperform with viewers that line up on opening previews and sustain through the second weekend if the picture pays off. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration indicates confidence in that model. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall run that extends to the Halloween corridor and beyond. The grid also includes the tightening integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another installment. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that suggests a new vibe or a casting choice that binds a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and grounded locations. That mix offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of comfort and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell Get More Info back at the spine, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can fuel PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important 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+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable 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’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on 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 parallel, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre hint at a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser 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 aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which play well in con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 serious, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that channels the fear through a young child’s shifting POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and name-above-title occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. 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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, 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 robust premium-format allocation 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and picture 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.