Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

An hair-raising spiritual nightmare movie from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when unknowns become puppets in a demonic ritual. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of continuance and prehistoric entity that will reshape terror storytelling this harvest season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric motion picture follows five teens who regain consciousness caught in a secluded house under the malignant influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be prepared to be ensnared by a immersive display that unites visceral dread with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the beings no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather internally. This illustrates the haunting aspect of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the intensity becomes a merciless battle between good and evil.


In a isolated woodland, five characters find themselves contained under the fiendish force and grasp of a elusive figure. As the cast becomes incapacitated to oppose her will, abandoned and tormented by evils ungraspable, they are required to confront their inner horrors while the hours harrowingly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and connections dissolve, demanding each figure to reconsider their personhood and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The cost surge with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon deep fear, an evil from ancient eras, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and exposing a presence that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that transformation is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households no matter where they are can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


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


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Experience this mind-warping journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar blends ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Ranging from survival horror drawn from mythic scripture and stretching into returning series paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the richest combined with blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, in tandem streamers crowd the fall with debut heat together with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching terror slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The new scare slate crowds up front with a January wave, before it spreads through the mid-year, and continuing into the holidays, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and data-minded counterweight. Distributors with platforms are betting on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the predictable counterweight in studio lineups, a pillar that can expand when it connects and still hedge the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that modestly budgeted entries can own the discourse, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and under-the-radar smashes. The run rolled into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can launch on open real estate, create a easy sell for teasers and short-form placements, and overperform with audiences that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the feature hits. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that equation. The year begins with a busy January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The map also spotlights the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and broaden at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just releasing another return. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a tonal shift or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a throwback-friendly framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to command 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček Young & Cursed commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in careful craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that boosts both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video combines library titles with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and handpicked rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival pickups, timing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern mix and grade. 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 announced a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward 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 hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

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 winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit 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 pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

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 stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 demanding boss try to survive on a desolate island as the control balance inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that manipulates the chill of a child’s uncertain impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. 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 elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and framing 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, original 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.