Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One eerie spiritual shockfest from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric horror when newcomers become instruments in a cursed maze. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and forgotten curse that will remodel terror storytelling this season. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic cinema piece follows five teens who find themselves imprisoned in a wooded house under the aggressive rule of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a biblical-era sacrosanct terror. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a screen-based outing that unites intense horror with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the dark entities no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This suggests the malevolent aspect of the victims. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the drama becomes a constant tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned wild, five souls find themselves caught under the ominous sway and spiritual invasion of a elusive entity. As the youths becomes powerless to break her grasp, abandoned and targeted by entities ungraspable, they are driven to stand before their worst nightmares while the deathwatch mercilessly runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and relationships break, pushing each character to reconsider their self and the foundation of autonomy itself. The consequences surge with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover deep fear, an evil from prehistory, channeling itself through our weaknesses, and wrestling with a will that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving viewers anywhere can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these unholy truths about free will.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 American release plan weaves Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, set against legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by mythic scripture and extending to canon extensions in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios stabilize the year with established lines, in parallel SVOD players prime the fall with fresh voices and old-world menace. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is surfing the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, the WB camp releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

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

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new genre slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A hectic Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The upcoming scare calendar stacks right away with a January glut, then flows through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, marrying IP strength, new voices, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios and streamers are leaning into right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that transform these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the dependable release in annual schedules, a genre that can expand when it lands and still insulate the risk when it misses. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that low-to-mid budget scare machines can own the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and prestige plays showed there is a lane for varied styles, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with obvious clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a renewed eye on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can debut on most weekends, yield a simple premise for spots and social clips, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the title connects. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan demonstrates belief in that setup. The year commences with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The schedule also shows the deeper integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and broaden at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across shared universes and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just rolling another follow-up. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that suggests a refreshed voice or a talent selection that binds a new installment to a first wave. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are embracing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a classic-referencing angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will drive wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that turns into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that threads romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to command 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is describing as a reset 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can fuel premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail Check This Out and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and curated rows to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival buys, confirming horror entries near launch and turning into events debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines 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 buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with award possibilities. 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 solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Look for 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 a pair, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising my company tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps announce the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a day-date move from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which align with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with this content 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. 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: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that manipulates the fear of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for 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 spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. 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 period language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall 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 steady Thursday pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and camera work 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.