Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

One unnerving paranormal suspense story from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried malevolence when unfamiliar people become pawns in a diabolical trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of resilience and mythic evil that will reimagine the horror genre this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic thriller follows five characters who regain consciousness locked in a wooded house under the malevolent power of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Prepare to be enthralled by a immersive event that merges intense horror with biblical origins, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the demons no longer come from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the most primal corner of these individuals. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the intensity becomes a unforgiving contest between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving woodland, five adults find themselves isolated under the ghastly influence and haunting of a haunted woman. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to withstand her manipulation, exiled and attacked by terrors ungraspable, they are thrust to reckon with their darkest emotions while the hours brutally edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and partnerships shatter, prompting each participant to reconsider their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The danger grow with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore ancestral fear, an entity beyond time, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and questioning a power that forces self-examination when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Witness this visceral ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these nightmarish insights about our species.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup interlaces primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with biblical myth and including series comebacks set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated in tandem with strategic year in a decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors bookend the months via recognizable brands, as platform operators load up the fall with new voices set against old-world menace. On another front, the independent cohort is fueled by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

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

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, 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 initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

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

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 scare season: next chapters, Originals, plus A stacked Calendar designed for jolts

Dek: The arriving scare slate clusters up front with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and straight through the holidays, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has become the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the zeitgeist, the following year maintained heat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now works like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, deliver a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan signals faith in that dynamic. The year commences with a heavy January block, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the same time, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into physical effects work, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a roots-evoking treatment without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign fueled by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan targeting 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that interweaves affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge 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 name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand 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 driven by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix films and festival snaps, confirming horror entries toward the drop and making event-like rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, have a peek at this web-site 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original Get More Info a cult hit, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first 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 tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Plan on 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 together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is steady enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps clarify the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and elevate 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 shot in tandem, lets marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the year’s horror indicate a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which match well with expo 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 razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 severe boss push to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting piece that refracts terror through a little one’s volatile point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. 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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. 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, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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 movies 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, 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 tactility, sound field, and camera work 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.