Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

One terrifying spectral horror tale from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient force when guests become proxies in a devilish conflict. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of living through and forgotten curse that will reconstruct scare flicks this fall. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who snap to ensnared in a hidden cottage under the malevolent power of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a ancient scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be hooked by a narrative adventure that integrates soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring foundation in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the monsters no longer form beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This marks the haunting side of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a merciless struggle between virtue and vice.


In a isolated woodland, five friends find themselves marooned under the dark effect and curse of a obscure female presence. As the group becomes unable to deny her control, stranded and stalked by unknowns impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their inner demons while the clock ruthlessly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and bonds fracture, demanding each soul to evaluate their true nature and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The cost surge with every instant, delivering a horror experience that blends paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore instinctual horror, an evil from ancient eras, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and testing a power that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing users internationally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this gripping descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these terrifying truths about the mind.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Across grit-forward survival fare saturated with legendary theology through to legacy revivals alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned combined with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses stabilize the year via recognizable brands, as OTT services crowd the fall with debut heat alongside ancient terrors. On the festival side, the art-house flank is buoyed by the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new spook release year: continuations, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The incoming scare slate stacks from the jump with a January glut, then extends through the mid-year, and deep into the year-end corridor, balancing marquee clout, creative pitches, and tactical calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are committing to tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the most reliable counterweight in studio calendars, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still insulate the liability when it falls short. After 2023 signaled to leaders that modestly budgeted fright engines can galvanize audience talk, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The upswing fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers made clear there is room for different modes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a renewed strategy on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and subscription services.

Insiders argue the space now acts as a utility player on the grid. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a grabby hook for previews and vertical videos, and overperform with moviegoers that lean in on previews Thursday and hold through the second weekend if the movie pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates confidence in that model. The calendar launches with a weighty January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The grid also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and grow at the strategic time.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and classic IP. The companies are not just greenlighting another return. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a casting choice that bridges a latest entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That fusion hands 2026 a smart balance of familiarity and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a roots-evoking angle without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave stacked with classic imagery, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that escalates into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror odd public stunts and bite-size content that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 sharper mandate to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can boost PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that elevates both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not stop a dual release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that emphasizes unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s AI companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the control balance inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating 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 residential haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled 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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 needed calendar 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 structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, 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 strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York navigate to this website and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.