Ancient Horror surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

A spine-tingling metaphysical fear-driven tale from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old fear when newcomers become puppets in a devilish conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of survival and primeval wickedness that will reshape terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick film follows five individuals who find themselves caught in a off-grid wooden structure under the dark grip of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a millennia-old biblical force. Ready yourself to be shaken by a immersive display that combines bone-deep fear with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is redefined when the entities no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This mirrors the grimmest part of all involved. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the conflict becomes a perpetual face-off between good and evil.


In a abandoned natural abyss, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the possessive control and haunting of a obscure being. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to evade her control, cut off and tormented by creatures unfathomable, they are pushed to deal with their inner demons while the deathwatch harrowingly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and links shatter, forcing each individual to reflect on their true nature and the integrity of volition itself. The risk magnify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon raw dread, an presence that existed before mankind, filtering through fragile psyche, and exposing a spirit that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the evil takes hold, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers across the world can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to experience these spiritual awakenings about the mind.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts braids together archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, and IP aftershocks

Ranging from life-or-death fear inspired by ancient scripture and extending to installment follow-ups paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the most complex in tandem with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, in tandem OTT services front-load the fall with unboxed visions in concert with ancestral chills. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode 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. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: follow-ups, new stories, paired with A brimming Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The arriving horror calendar stacks immediately with a January crush, and then unfolds through summer, and pushing into the festive period, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and smart counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are embracing smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that frame these films into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has established itself as the consistent option in annual schedules, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that mid-range entries can own the discourse, 2024 sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The upswing pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of established brands and new pitches, and a recommitted commitment on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, create a easy sell for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with viewers that turn out on early shows and return through the second frame if the feature lands. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout reflects confidence in that setup. The calendar begins with a weighty January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the deeper integration of specialty arms and streamers that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and grow at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across shared universes and legacy IP. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are looking to package connection with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the same time, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That alloy gives 2026 a confident blend of assurance and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases 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, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a heritage-honoring mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected stacked with iconic art, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that becomes a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop 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.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a visceral, makeup-driven mix can feel prestige on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and monster design, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that amplifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival grabs, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, this website a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping 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 pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns outline the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre hint at a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first my company teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 dread, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that channels the fear through a minor’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the Young & Cursed can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. 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 restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 period language and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, 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 gets gnarly, 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 the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and visuals 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.