Antediluvian Terror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

One frightening mystic fear-driven tale from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial malevolence when guests become vehicles in a dark ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping story of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will redefine scare flicks this scare season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody suspense flick follows five young adults who find themselves locked in a isolated lodge under the hostile rule of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a time-worn ancient fiend. Be warned to be absorbed by a screen-based journey that unites visceral dread with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the demons no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the malevolent shade of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw mental war where the story becomes a constant conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak forest, five individuals find themselves contained under the dark sway and spiritual invasion of a unknown person. As the survivors becomes submissive to reject her curse, stranded and stalked by beings unnamable, they are pushed to face their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch harrowingly ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and teams shatter, coercing each individual to contemplate their values and the idea of personal agency itself. The pressure climb with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon basic terror, an evil born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in human fragility, and questioning a power that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that conversion is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving users in all regions can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these unholy truths about the psyche.


For featurettes, extra content, and updates from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule weaves archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with old testament echoes as well as series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the richest as well as calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors set cornerstones with familiar IP, concurrently SVOD players prime the fall with unboxed visions and scriptural shivers. In parallel, the independent cohort is propelled by the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. 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 re boards, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as theme, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next terror release year: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The brand-new scare year builds from the jump with a January cluster, following that rolls through midyear, and deep into the late-year period, weaving franchise firepower, novel approaches, and strategic counterprogramming. The major players are betting on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that convert these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the dependable counterweight in release plans, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The trend moved into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the market, with intentional bunching, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a recommitted focus on release windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and subscription services.

Executives say the genre now operates like a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, supply a easy sell for marketing and short-form placements, and overperform with moviegoers that lean in on Thursday nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry pays off. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration signals certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a thick January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and into early November. The map also illustrates the tightening integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and grow at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and established properties. The companies are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that signals a reframed mood or a casting move that binds a new entry to a foundational era. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, real effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking framework without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to renew creepy live activations and snackable content that hybridizes affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are set up as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in Young & Cursed late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries tight to release and coalescing around premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key 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+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind these films forecast a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win 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.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences 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 TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first 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 tough boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that explores the unease of a child’s fragile senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly 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 comic send-up that needles current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with 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 deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.