Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

A hair-raising otherworldly fright fest from screenwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic horror when strangers become subjects in a devilish ceremony. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of living through and mythic evil that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy film follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves confined in a hidden dwelling under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a possessed female dominated by a biblical-era biblical force. Prepare to be gripped by a narrative display that merges gut-punch terror with legendary tales, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the dark entities no longer appear from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the shadowy side of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the suspense becomes a relentless conflict between right and wrong.


In a abandoned landscape, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the malicious force and overtake of a shadowy spirit. As the characters becomes vulnerable to resist her power, isolated and pursued by entities mind-shattering, they are compelled to acknowledge their core terrors while the seconds mercilessly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and links crack, demanding each soul to question their character and the foundation of decision-making itself. The tension amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines supernatural terror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract pure dread, an threat rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and dealing with a evil that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the evil takes hold, and that turn is terrifying because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans globally can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has gathered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Join this cinematic descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. lineup Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, plus tentpole growls

Ranging from life-or-death fear inspired by ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured as well as calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, in parallel streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions and scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is fueled by the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to 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.

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 is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to 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 resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next scare year to come: Sequels, original films, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The brand-new horror season loads immediately with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through summer, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on smart costs, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy move in programming grids, a space that can lift when it catches and still buffer the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that modestly budgeted pictures can shape pop culture, the following year extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a mix of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived emphasis on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can kick off on many corridors, supply a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on preview nights and sustain through the subsequent weekend if the movie lands. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects belief in that engine. The year commences with a weighty January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a fall cadence that reaches into spooky season and into the next week. The arrangement also spotlights the greater integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can build gradually, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and classic IP. The players are not just mounting another chapter. They are looking to package connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a reframed mood or a lead change that threads a latest entry to a classic era. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That convergence hands 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a fan-service aware mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror hit that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is billing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that enhances both week-one demand and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near their drops and making event-like releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and grow scope. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that underscores texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. my company Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

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

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January this page 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the control balance turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that plays with the dread of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock 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 my company 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.