Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling spectral horror tale from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become conduits in a cursed conflict. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and forgotten curse that will revolutionize the horror genre this season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy feature follows five individuals who wake up stranded in a off-grid shelter under the sinister manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be captivated by a screen-based display that unites bodily fright with timeless legends, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the monsters no longer come outside the characters, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the deepest layer of the victims. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the plotline becomes a perpetual tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak woodland, five teens find themselves confined under the evil grip and curse of a mysterious apparition. As the survivors becomes unresisting to deny her influence, disconnected and chased by beings impossible to understand, they are forced to confront their core terrors while the time harrowingly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust amplifies and relationships erode, requiring each protagonist to question their self and the idea of liberty itself. The risk surge with every beat, delivering a terror ride that combines ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore raw dread, an evil beyond recorded history, influencing our fears, and highlighting a darkness that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that transition is haunting because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving audiences internationally can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For cast commentary, extra content, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, together with series shake-ups

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured in tandem with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next scare lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare year crams early with a January bottleneck, then rolls through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, blending name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it performs and still cushion the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range scare machines can drive the national conversation, 2024 held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and critical darlings signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from continued chapters to director-led originals that perform internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across companies, with mapped-out bands, a balance of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a renewed emphasis on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the category now works like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can open on open real estate, create a tight logline for previews and vertical videos, and exceed norms with audiences that lean in on early shows and stay strong through the next weekend if the feature lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The year commences with a crowded January run, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into late October and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a initial period. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are favoring on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That mix provides 2026 a strong blend of home base and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push leaning on legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele titles are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, makeup-driven strategy can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries toward the drop and staging as events debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is simple: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated 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. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has served the Source company well for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 credible, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. 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 synthetic partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 forms 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game 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 demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that threads the dread through a young child’s wavering point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. 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 sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.