Ancient Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, premiering October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical thriller from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric nightmare when unrelated individuals become proxies in a cursed struggle. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody story follows five strangers who arise locked in a cut-off dwelling under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be captivated by a narrative event that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored narrative in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the fiends no longer develop from beyond, but rather inside them. This marks the most hidden dimension of the protagonists. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the events becomes a perpetual tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five characters find themselves confined under the fiendish dominion and grasp of a unidentified spirit. As the team becomes helpless to resist her command, stranded and stalked by creatures beyond comprehension, they are required to battle their darkest emotions while the clock relentlessly counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and teams break, requiring each participant to doubt their essence and the integrity of personal agency itself. The stakes amplify with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that blends demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke instinctual horror, an malevolence that predates humanity, channeling itself through our fears, and questioning a curse that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the invasion happens, and that turn is eerie because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering watchers in all regions can be part of this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this gripping descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these unholy truths about the soul.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate fuses biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, paired with tentpole growls

Ranging from life-or-death fear grounded in mythic scripture through to returning series plus surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most stratified plus carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners plant stakes across the year with known properties, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with unboxed visions alongside mythic dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is drafting behind the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting 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 translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale 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. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. 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 film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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 film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new chiller season: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A jammed Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The current scare cycle stacks from day one with a January bottleneck, subsequently stretches through the mid-year, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining franchise firepower, untold stories, and calculated offsets. Studios with streamers are betting on lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the most reliable counterweight in distribution calendars, a vertical that can grow when it connects and still hedge the exposure when it misses. After 2023 reminded executives that disciplined-budget scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The tailwind fed into 2025, where resurrections and elevated films showed there is an opening for several lanes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that travel well. The end result for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of established brands and original hooks, and a tightened emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Buyers contend the genre now operates like a utility player on the programming map. Horror can kick off on numerous frames, furnish a tight logline for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with viewers that come out on preview nights and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the offering pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping indicates certainty in that dynamic. The year opens with a busy January run, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The gridline also illustrates the expanded integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can platform a title, generate chatter, and roll out at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and long-running brands. The players are not just releasing another entry. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that flags a tonal shift or a cast configuration that threads a next film to a early run. At the same time, the helmers behind the top original plays are celebrating physical effects work, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That combination offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two spotlight moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a fan-service aware framework without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and short reels that mixes attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books 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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are framed as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, makeup-driven treatment can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around canon, and creature effects, elements that can increase format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 serious, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter 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 spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 fight to survive on a isolated island as the control balance reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that teases the chill of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-supported and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. 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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 stealth-hit search 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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 horror abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.