Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A haunting spiritual shockfest from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient terror when unknowns become vehicles in a cursed experiment. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of continuance and old world terror that will revamp fear-driven cinema this season. Helmed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive fearfest follows five individuals who are stirred isolated in a wooded wooden structure under the ominous will of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a legendary ancient fiend. Be warned to be absorbed by a theatrical ride that intertwines bodily fright with legendary tales, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a enduring theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather deep within. This illustrates the most sinister shade of all involved. The result is a riveting mind game where the tension becomes a unyielding struggle between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five individuals find themselves cornered under the fiendish grip and curse of a secretive entity. As the group becomes defenseless to escape her rule, exiled and preyed upon by spirits ungraspable, they are made to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds unforgivingly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension swells and associations erode, coercing each protagonist to doubt their identity and the principle of independent thought itself. The hazard amplify with every second, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel instinctual horror, an presence rooted in antiquity, influencing emotional vulnerability, and navigating a evil that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the control shifts, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring horror lovers internationally can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Experience this cinematic ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these fearful discoveries about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate blends biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from biblical myth through to brand-name continuations together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most textured paired with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, simultaneously streaming platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs set against ancestral chills. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner starts the year with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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 genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching spook calendar year ahead: continuations, new stories, paired with A loaded Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The upcoming scare year crowds right away with a January pile-up, from there rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the late-year period, marrying brand heft, original angles, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that shape these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The genre has established itself as the dependable counterweight in release plans, a space that can lift when it clicks and still mitigate the drawdown when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The head of steam moved into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays highlighted there is a lane for different modes, from series extensions to fresh IP that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the market, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and platforms.

Studio leaders note the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can debut on many corridors, generate a easy sell for ad units and TikTok spots, and lead with demo groups that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the movie pays off. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration indicates faith in that playbook. The calendar begins with a heavy January run, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a autumn push that carries into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also shows the increasing integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just releasing another continuation. They are shaping as lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That combination delivers 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance announces a memory-charged bent without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push fueled by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that turns into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit eerie street stunts and micro spots that mixes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in careful craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that amplifies both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival additions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. 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 credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Look 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 hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring 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, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise this website with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is steady enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre hint at a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger navigate here rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a kid’s flickering point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall 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 like 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 warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sonics, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.