Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This eerie spiritual scare-fest from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an forgotten evil when guests become vehicles in a dark ritual. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will resculpt the horror genre this fall. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie screenplay follows five characters who suddenly rise isolated in a remote dwelling under the ominous grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a timeless scriptural evil. Be prepared to be enthralled by a theatrical event that melds visceral dread with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a recurring element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the demons no longer appear outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the shadowy corner of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the conflict becomes a brutal push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned backcountry, five souls find themselves cornered under the ominous control and infestation of a unknown being. As the group becomes unable to fight her control, isolated and targeted by entities impossible to understand, they are confronted to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour unforgivingly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and bonds crack, demanding each member to rethink their identity and the foundation of personal agency itself. The threat accelerate with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that connects unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into primal fear, an evil before modern man, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a evil that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers no matter where they are can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these chilling revelations about existence.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s sea change: the year 2025 stateside slate braids together old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare infused with near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel OTT services flood the fall with discovery plays together with ancestral chills. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is surfing the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: 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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright year to come: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming genre season lines up at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding brand equity, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. The major players are prioritizing right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to top brass that mid-range horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The upswing carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films confirmed there is a lane for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to original features that translate worldwide. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that presents tight coordination across the major shops, with planned clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a revived attention on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can bow on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that come out on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that approach. The slate launches with a thick January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a late-year stretch that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The calendar also features the increasing integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just releasing another return. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a fresh attitude or a lead change that bridges a next film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides 2026 a smart balance of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format enabling quick updates to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to maximize 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around world-building, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest 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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating 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 setup is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer this contact form and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights tone and tension rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 severe boss work to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing 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 in-home haunting piece that mediates the fear via a little one’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and toplined spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, aural design, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker 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, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.