Ancient Malevolence Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

This bone-chilling supernatural terror film from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric nightmare when foreigners become vehicles in a cursed contest. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving episode of living through and mythic evil that will alter horror this spooky time. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic thriller follows five individuals who emerge confined in a wilderness-bound structure under the malignant power of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a narrative event that fuses soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the entities no longer arise from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the most terrifying part of these individuals. The result is a intense internal warfare where the intensity becomes a constant struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren natural abyss, five figures find themselves stuck under the possessive force and control of a secretive woman. As the victims becomes paralyzed to fight her command, isolated and preyed upon by entities beyond comprehension, they are driven to face their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown unforgivingly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and alliances disintegrate, urging each participant to examine their values and the principle of personal agency itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken instinctual horror, an power older than civilization itself, manifesting in fragile psyche, and examining a presence that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something past sanity. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transition is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers across the world can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Experience this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these haunting secrets about our species.


For teasers, extra content, and announcements via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning life-or-death fear grounded in old testament echoes through to series comebacks alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the richest combined with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, even as platform operators crowd the fall with emerging auteurs and old-world menace. In parallel, the independent cohort is drafting behind the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 calculated bet. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. 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. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows 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.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is 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.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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



The coming 2026 scare Year Ahead: continuations, new stories, paired with A loaded Calendar engineered for screams

Dek: The fresh terror season clusters from the jump with a January crush, subsequently unfolds through summer, and carrying into the December corridor, marrying brand heft, novel approaches, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are relying on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the consistent move in studio lineups, a category that can grow when it hits and still cushion the risk when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that modestly budgeted genre plays can steer cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is space for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The result for 2026 is a schedule that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a pairing of known properties and fresh ideas, and a recommitted attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the space now serves as a versatile piece on the programming map. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, yield a grabby hook for spots and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with moviegoers that arrive on previews Thursday and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the offering lands. Post a production delay era, the 2026 mapping signals assurance in that model. The calendar starts with a front-loaded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a September to October window that carries into the fright window and into the next week. The schedule also illustrates the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and scale up at the right moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across shared IP webs and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another return. They are trying to present story carry-over with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a new tone or a casting pivot that links a fresh chapter to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That convergence affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of recognition and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that turns into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are marketed as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, makeup-driven approach can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is presenting as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in careful craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that boosts both initial urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival buys, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two IP plays. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Expect 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 as partners, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a my company tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not prevent a dual release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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, allows marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk have a peek here into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: aura-driven 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 struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that channels the fear through a youngster’s shifting inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream weblink summer comedy-horror.

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 flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. 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. 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, 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 dimensionality, sound, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.