Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

A hair-raising mystic scare-fest from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic terror when guests become victims in a demonic experiment. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of overcoming and forgotten curse that will transform fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick screenplay follows five unacquainted souls who suddenly rise ensnared in a off-grid cottage under the malignant sway of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be shaken by a narrative journey that fuses intense horror with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the fiends no longer develop from external sources, but rather inside them. This mirrors the haunting layer of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a merciless contest between right and wrong.


In a barren wilderness, five campers find themselves marooned under the ominous force and curse of a secretive person. As the characters becomes unable to evade her rule, marooned and hunted by entities indescribable, they are obligated to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension deepens and bonds break, prompting each individual to reconsider their self and the concept of personal agency itself. The cost accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that fuses paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into core terror, an curse rooted in antiquity, influencing mental cracks, and examining a force that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is shocking because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans across the world can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to a global viewership.


Experience this gripping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For featurettes, production news, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 stateside slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, paired with franchise surges

Moving from endurance-driven terror saturated with mythic scripture and extending to IP renewals and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most complex paired with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, simultaneously premium streamers load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancestral chills. In parallel, the artisan tier is catching the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring 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 comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A jammed Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek The arriving terror season stacks at the outset with a January cluster, following that rolls through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that convert genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent tool in release plans, a segment that can expand when it connects and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can steer pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for different modes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with clear date clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the category now works like a wildcard on the slate. The genre can premiere on open real estate, offer a simple premise for creative and social clips, and outstrip with fans that line up on first-look nights and stay strong through the second frame if the feature delivers. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that logic. The calendar opens with a thick January window, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that pushes into the Halloween frame and into November. The calendar also underscores the greater integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another entry. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That blend yields the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount fires first with two spotlight plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick shifts to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is elegant, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man brings home an artificial companion that becomes a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that mixes affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are framed as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend lets the studio to dominate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror blast that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. 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 favorite of fans, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set announce the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and raise the stakes. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which favor convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month caps 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 stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a Check This Out master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that routes the horror through a minor’s unsteady perspective. Rating: to be announced. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, 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 comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. 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 Young & Cursed 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.