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

This chilling spectral fright fest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient curse when foreigners become tokens in a diabolical trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will alter genre cinema this ghoul season. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five strangers who wake up trapped in a remote cabin under the sinister influence of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a ancient biblical demon. Anticipate to be ensnared by a filmic ride that unites bodily fright with spiritual backstory, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the forces no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This suggests the deepest part of the cast. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the drama becomes a relentless tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving terrain, five figures find themselves confined under the possessive force and control of a elusive character. As the survivors becomes submissive to escape her curse, severed and stalked by beings unimaginable, they are compelled to confront their deepest fears while the deathwatch unforgivingly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and links break, prompting each member to question their character and the structure of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that blends spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel deep fear, an evil from ancient eras, feeding on emotional fractures, and challenging a presence that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that turn is shocking because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Join this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 stateside slate integrates old-world possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Running from survival horror steeped in old testament echoes to returning series alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streaming platforms front-load the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. On the festival side, the art-house flank is propelled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. 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, led by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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 horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. 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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 terror release year: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar engineered for screams

Dek The arriving terror year clusters up front with a January bottleneck, and then carries through summer, and straight through the late-year period, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has become the predictable counterweight in release strategies, a space that can break out when it clicks and still hedge the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that low-to-mid budget shockers can galvanize the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and stealth successes. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and prestige plays underscored there is an opening for a variety of tones, from returning installments to director-led originals that scale internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened stance on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can open on almost any weekend, generate a grabby hook for spots and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that arrive on first-look nights and continue through the week two if the offering lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern exhibits confidence in that setup. The calendar starts with a thick January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a October build that carries into Halloween and past Halloween. The schedule also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across ongoing universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just turning out another sequel. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a new tone or a ensemble decision that binds a new entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing material texture, practical gags and concrete locations. That combination produces the 2026 slate a vital pairing of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles 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 role and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a heritage-honoring framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that shifts into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay creepy live activations and quick hits that blurs romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, this content the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led treatment can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around mythos, and creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that optimizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival additions, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. 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 foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 link the films through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. 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 ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that pipes the unease through a minor’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 maximize those pockets. 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 Get More Info 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.

How the viewing year plays

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

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sonics, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.