Primeval Terror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

A eerie otherworldly suspense story from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic dread when newcomers become instruments in a fiendish maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of overcoming and ancient evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this cool-weather season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy suspense flick follows five individuals who regain consciousness stuck in a hidden hideaway under the hostile control of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a biblical-era holy text monster. Prepare to be ensnared by a immersive display that integrates instinctive fear with mystical narratives, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is flipped when the beings no longer form from beyond, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the deepest shade of every character. The result is a relentless mental war where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing struggle between heaven and hell.


In a remote no-man's-land, five adults find themselves isolated under the ominous force and infestation of a elusive apparition. As the victims becomes submissive to break her curse, marooned and preyed upon by presences unimaginable, they are thrust to wrestle with their core terrors while the clock without pity pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and connections fracture, urging each character to reflect on their existence and the integrity of personal agency itself. The intensity amplify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore primitive panic, an presence that predates humanity, emerging via soul-level flaws, and exposing a darkness that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers worldwide can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


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


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this mind-warping descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to confront these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts interlaces primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Moving from survivor-centric dread infused with ancient scripture and extending to canon extensions alongside focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the richest in tandem with blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays and ancient terrors. At the same time, the artisan tier is propelled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, 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. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed 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 hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 scare year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, And A brimming Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current scare year crams in short order with a January traffic jam, after that flows through peak season, and pushing into the holiday stretch, combining marquee clout, novel approaches, and smart counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that transform these films into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the consistent play in release strategies, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still cushion the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that efficiently budgeted genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to 2025, where revived properties and festival-grade titles signaled there is appetite for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that appears tightly organized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a re-energized strategy on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the category now functions as a wildcard on the schedule. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, provide a clear pitch for teasers and platform-native cuts, and outperform with audiences that turn out on advance nights and stick through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs confidence in that setup. The calendar begins with a heavy January run, then taps spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and past the holiday. The program also reflects the continuing integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and move wide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just producing another installment. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that suggests a refreshed voice or a casting move that links a next entry to a heyday. At the same time, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring in-camera technique, real effects and concrete locations. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a throwback-friendly approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave fueled by recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan 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 together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will go after wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that grows into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart 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 directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival deals, locking in horror entries near their drops and eventizing debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 telegraphed a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on 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 hand in hand, using limited theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel 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 plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 this contact form presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 work to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that refracts terror through a youngster’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. 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 re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family linked to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus great post to read 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 elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 expanded PLF presence 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 check my blog 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 value-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 use those gaps. 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 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and image-making 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 Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.