Antediluvian Terror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

This haunting otherworldly shockfest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric horror when passersby become subjects in a fiendish ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of living through and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves sealed in a hidden shelter under the oppressive rule of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a time-worn religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a motion picture ride that unites visceral dread with mystical narratives, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the forces no longer come outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the malevolent shade of the group. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the story becomes a brutal conflict between heaven and hell.


In a bleak outland, five campers find themselves isolated under the ominous rule and domination of a unidentified entity. As the cast becomes helpless to evade her manipulation, exiled and preyed upon by entities ungraspable, they are made to endure their emotional phantoms while the timeline brutally edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion mounts and links crack, pushing each survivor to challenge their self and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The consequences mount with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover basic terror, an curse beyond recorded history, working through our fears, and navigating a evil that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans around the globe can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has racked up over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this life-altering exploration of dread. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these fearful discoveries about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and updates via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans American release plan interlaces primeval-possession lore, underground frights, plus legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with last-stand terror saturated with mythic scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the richest along with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel streaming platforms prime the fall with fresh voices as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, 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 mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 oncoming Horror Year Ahead: Sequels, new stories, And A loaded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The incoming horror calendar crams right away with a January cluster, then spreads through peak season, and straight through the holidays, braiding IP strength, new concepts, and calculated offsets. The major players are doubling down on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that position these offerings into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the steady play in programming grids, a genre that can expand when it catches and still limit the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The trend rolled into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles highlighted there is an opening for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that appears tightly organized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a revived priority on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and digital services.

Planners observe the space now serves as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can arrive on many corridors, furnish a easy sell for trailers and platform-native cuts, and lead with moviegoers that show up on advance nights and return through the next weekend if the picture connects. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern underscores confidence in that dynamic. The calendar kicks off with a loaded January run, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that stretches into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The schedule also illustrates the increasing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are moving to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a fan-service aware angle without retreading the last two click to read more entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave rooted in iconic art, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will generate wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that shifts into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that fuses affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are positioned as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can lift premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. 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 mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and expand the canvas. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to link the films through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror signal a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 domestic haunting setup that threads the dread through a youth’s uneven POV. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted paranormal 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 send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of Get More Info the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound, 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, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.