Age-old Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 on global platforms

A unnerving spectral thriller from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric horror when drifters become victims in a devilish struggle. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of endurance and timeless dread that will redefine scare flicks this spooky time. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic thriller follows five lost souls who find themselves imprisoned in a cut-off dwelling under the sinister command of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a filmic adventure that unites bodily fright with timeless legends, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer originate outside the characters, but rather deep within. This mirrors the grimmest aspect of the players. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the tension becomes a relentless conflict between good and evil.


In a barren landscape, five friends find themselves trapped under the malicious presence and curse of a shadowy female presence. As the victims becomes submissive to combat her influence, isolated and attacked by entities beyond reason, they are cornered to confront their worst nightmares while the clock without pause draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and alliances collapse, driving each protagonist to rethink their true nature and the nature of self-determination itself. The risk grow with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore primitive panic, an presence that existed before mankind, influencing our fears, and highlighting a spirit that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering fans globally can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this visceral descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and promotions from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar weaves Mythic Possession, indie terrors, alongside franchise surges

Kicking off with last-stand terror steeped in ancient scripture and including legacy revivals set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned and deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners set cornerstones using marquee IP, in tandem premium streamers front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus old-world menace. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is carried on the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in 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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Big screen 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.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: Sequels, original films, alongside A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The incoming terror season stacks up front with a January wave, before it runs through the summer months, and pushing into the winter holidays, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are embracing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has proven to be the sturdy swing in studio slates, a space that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the drag when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can steer the zeitgeist, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The run carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries underscored there is an opening for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that carry overseas. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with clear date clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a sharpened emphasis on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a schedule utility on the rollout map. The genre can open on most weekends, generate a clean hook for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with ticket buyers that arrive on advance nights and stay strong through the second frame if the feature lands. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm signals belief in that equation. The slate rolls out with a stacked January band, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a September to October window that stretches into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The program also reflects the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and expand at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand strategy across unified worlds and veteran brands. Big banners are not just rolling another sequel. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that announces a new tone or a casting move that ties a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the marquee originals are championing hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two spotlight releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach 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 explicit mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by meticulous craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that fortifies both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video balances acquired titles with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, dating horror entries near their drops and eventizing rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays bring the oxygen. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set make sense of the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a dual release from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror suggest a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which align with con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam movies Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines 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 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops 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 finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 prickly boss try to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 in-home haunting piece that channels the fear through a young child’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.