Age-old Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

An frightening otherworldly fear-driven tale from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric horror when strangers become conduits in a dark conflict. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of endurance and ancient evil that will alter terror storytelling this autumn. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie fearfest follows five individuals who find themselves locked in a hidden shelter under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be hooked by a immersive experience that combines visceral dread with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the fiends no longer descend from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the grimmest corner of every character. The result is a relentless inner struggle where the suspense becomes a relentless face-off between heaven and hell.


In a bleak outland, five friends find themselves trapped under the ominous presence and haunting of a mysterious spirit. As the team becomes powerless to withstand her manipulation, cut off and stalked by terrors beyond reason, they are made to face their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter without pause winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and alliances erode, coercing each soul to contemplate their being and the structure of decision-making itself. The tension intensify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into deep fear, an power beyond time, emerging via human fragility, and exposing a being that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that flip is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure fans worldwide can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Experience this haunted ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these chilling revelations about the mind.


For director insights, special features, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the official website.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus domestic schedule braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus returning-series thunder

Moving from survivor-centric dread steeped in old testament echoes and including returning series plus focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors with familiar IP, even as platform operators pack the fall with new voices plus primordial unease. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: 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. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright slate: installments, standalone ideas, alongside A busy Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new genre slate builds right away with a January cluster, before it rolls through midyear, and well into the holiday frame, blending franchise firepower, new voices, and tactical counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that shape these films into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has become the sturdy play in release plans, a corner that can break out when it performs and still mitigate the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured executives that cost-conscious shockers can command the zeitgeist, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The carry carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and critical darlings made clear there is a lane for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and new pitches, and a tightened strategy on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can arrive on many corridors, furnish a tight logline for spots and short-form placements, and lead with ticket buyers that line up on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title works. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs assurance in that dynamic. The slate commences with a front-loaded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while making space for a autumn stretch that stretches into the fright window and into the next week. The calendar also spotlights the tightening integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and expand at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and classic IP. Big banners are not just releasing another follow-up. They are looking to package lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that suggests a refreshed voice or a star attachment that threads a incoming chapter to a vintage era. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are embracing tactile craft, practical effects and specific settings. That interplay affords 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a roots-evoking framework without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push stacked with recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will seek wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that blurs companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date 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 re-emerges in what the studio is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that boosts both FOMO and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival deals, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events arrivals with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has this contact form delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 piece that refracts terror through a preteen’s uneven subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-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 unexpected 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, aural design, and visuals 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 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.