Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

An hair-raising paranormal horror tale from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval nightmare when unknowns become instruments in a demonic struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of continuance and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic screenplay follows five strangers who wake up stuck in a wilderness-bound house under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a timeless religious nightmare. Be prepared to be absorbed by a cinematic event that merges raw fear with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a enduring element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the spirits no longer originate outside the characters, but rather from their core. This suggests the shadowy dimension of the players. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the events becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned natural abyss, five characters find themselves contained under the possessive dominion and grasp of a mysterious character. As the companions becomes paralyzed to evade her will, abandoned and pursued by powers inconceivable, they are thrust to endure their soulful dreads while the timeline unceasingly ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and connections implode, requiring each member to doubt their existence and the structure of volition itself. The hazard magnify with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that weaves together mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dig into ancestral fear, an power before modern man, influencing our fears, and exposing a will that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is haunting because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing viewers from coast to coast can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has garnered over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this life-altering fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For film updates, making-of footage, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts blends old-world possession, independent shockers, together with franchise surges

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with mythic scripture through to returning series paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the richest along with deliberate year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays and legend-coded dread. At the same time, the artisan tier is carried on the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

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

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite 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 moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. 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 lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 terror cycle: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A busy Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The fresh terror slate crowds immediately with a January traffic jam, then stretches through summer, and pushing into the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, creative pitches, and calculated counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that turn genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has proven to be the surest option in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it connects and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can command the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run fed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for a spectrum, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened attention on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and digital services.

Studio leaders note the category now performs as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can open on virtually any date, furnish a grabby hook for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with crowds that respond on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the entry lands. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that equation. The slate kicks off with a busy January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a late-year stretch that connects to late October and into the next week. The arrangement also features the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and grow at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another follow-up. They are trying to present story carry-over with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that binds a upcoming film to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That mix gives 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a heritage-honoring angle without rehashing the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick redirects to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, get redirected here melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that escalates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on eerie street stunts and short reels that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are branded as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and image. 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 traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries 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 produced back-to-back, have a peek at these guys creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films hint at a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

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

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win 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 premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: gothic-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 unyielding boss work to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that teases the unease of a child’s wobbly perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, 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.

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.