Primordial Horror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

An frightening occult shockfest from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten horror when strangers become instruments in a hellish conflict. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of staying alive and mythic evil that will reshape horror this autumn. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic thriller follows five strangers who emerge stuck in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Prepare to be enthralled by a big screen venture that fuses primitive horror with ancient myths, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the monsters no longer manifest from beyond, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest facet of the victims. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a merciless push-pull between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five friends find themselves isolated under the ominous presence and inhabitation of a enigmatic apparition. As the companions becomes incapacitated to evade her rule, stranded and stalked by powers impossible to understand, they are obligated to acknowledge their deepest fears while the doomsday meter mercilessly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and friendships fracture, compelling each survivor to reconsider their values and the notion of free will itself. The stakes magnify with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that combines otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel basic terror, an darkness that existed before mankind, manipulating psychological breaks, and examining a entity that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that transition is haunting because it is so internal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers anywhere can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these fearful discoveries about existence.


For exclusive trailers, extra content, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup integrates legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, set against series shake-ups

Kicking off with last-stand terror grounded in scriptural legend all the way to series comebacks set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most complex in tandem with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, concurrently platform operators saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. 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 title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fright Year Ahead: installments, standalone ideas, paired with A busy Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The fresh horror season loads early with a January glut, before it runs through the warm months, and running into the holiday stretch, balancing name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy offsets. The big buyers and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that pivot genre titles into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can expand when it hits and still safeguard the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded executives that efficiently budgeted shockers can dominate audience talk, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and stealth successes. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is a market for many shades, from continued chapters to director-led originals that carry overseas. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated strategy on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, provide a clean hook for spots and shorts, and overperform with audiences that appear on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the title lands. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs comfort in that approach. The slate kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that pushes into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting choice that anchors a new entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing physical effects work, real effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives 2026 a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a classic-referencing treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever drives trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that grows into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to echo odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late Source summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around lore, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that enhances both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video balances licensed films with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries tight to release and turning into events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Keep an eye on 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 in concert, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not prevent a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, imp source which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind these films signal a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect 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.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. 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 widowed man’s machine mate becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a isolated island as the control balance reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that teases the unease of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing 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: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family anchored to old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.