Antediluvian Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This haunting unearthly scare-fest from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic nightmare when strangers become subjects in a hellish ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of living through and primeval wickedness that will reshape genre cinema this Halloween season. Produced by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy screenplay follows five young adults who suddenly rise trapped in a hidden structure under the malignant sway of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a ancient holy text monster. Steel yourself to be hooked by a theatrical spectacle that blends instinctive fear with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the fiends no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather inside them. This marks the shadowy facet of every character. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned woodland, five souls find themselves cornered under the dark presence and infestation of a mysterious person. As the group becomes incapable to deny her manipulation, stranded and attacked by unknowns inconceivable, they are driven to reckon with their inner horrors while the doomsday meter without pause strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and connections break, compelling each soul to contemplate their true nature and the concept of free will itself. The threat rise with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into deep fear, an threat that predates humanity, feeding on psychological breaks, and questioning a being that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the invasion happens, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering users internationally can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this cinematic ride through nightmares. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these fearful discoveries about our species.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. lineup Mixes legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, and brand-name tremors

Running from grit-forward survival fare suffused with scriptural legend through to brand-name continuations plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified paired with deliberate year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs alongside old-world menace. On another front, festival-forward creators is carried on the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by 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. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror slate crams in short order with a January crush, then rolls through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, blending IP strength, original angles, and calculated calendar placement. Studios and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it lands and still hedge the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to top brass that responsibly budgeted chillers can galvanize the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The head of steam extended into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays showed there is room for many shades, from continued chapters to fresh IP that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across the market, with strategic blocks, a blend of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a sharpened commitment on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and platforms.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can open on a wide range of weekends, generate a grabby hook for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with ticket buyers that come out on first-look nights and stick through the second weekend if the release delivers. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 plan demonstrates trust in that setup. The year launches with a busy January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a autumn stretch that reaches into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can build gradually, generate chatter, and grow at the timely point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across linked properties and storied titles. Studio teams are not just mounting another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a talent selection that connects a new entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That combination affords 2026 a strong blend of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a memory-charged treatment without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with recognizable motifs, character previews, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots 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 draw the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format enabling quick shifts to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels 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 public title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, physical-effects centered method can feel big on a moderate cost. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium format interest and convention buzz.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that enhances both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival wins, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Watch for 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 as a pair, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and grow scope. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is full. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 stiff, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

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

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The navigate to this website Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads 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 and U.S. theatrical set. 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that refracts terror through a child’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

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 parody return that teases today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family snared by past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. 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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. 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. click site Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up 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 detail, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.