Ancient Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

This chilling paranormal suspense film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten evil when unfamiliar people become conduits in a diabolical ritual. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will redefine the fear genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and immersive suspense flick follows five figures who wake up trapped in a far-off structure under the dark command of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Be prepared to be ensnared by a cinematic display that fuses soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the fiends no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather internally. This portrays the grimmest part of these individuals. The result is a riveting mental war where the story becomes a brutal clash between purity and corruption.


In a remote natural abyss, five teens find themselves contained under the dark grip and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the protagonists becomes incapable to evade her grasp, stranded and targeted by creatures ungraspable, they are driven to deal with their soulful dreads while the final hour relentlessly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and bonds collapse, urging each participant to rethink their true nature and the concept of independent thought itself. The threat magnify with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that marries occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke ancestral fear, an malevolence beyond recorded history, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and highlighting a presence that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that flip is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing streamers internationally can enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this bone-rattling path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 U.S. release slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Across life-or-death fear suffused with primordial scripture and including installment follow-ups plus acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified together with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios are anchoring the year with familiar IP, while SVOD players load up the fall with fresh voices set against scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

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

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. 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 offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. 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.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching terror cycle: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The current genre calendar loads immediately with a January crush, then rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable lever in studio slates, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still safeguard the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that disciplined-budget fright engines can own the zeitgeist, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is capacity for many shades, from continued chapters to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and new packages, and a refocused eye on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a swing piece on the calendar. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for marketing and reels, and overperform with audiences that appear on opening previews and return through the follow-up frame if the picture fires. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates confidence in that approach. The slate begins with a busy January window, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The map also illustrates the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that signals a new tone or a casting move that reconnects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, in-camera effects and specific settings. That alloy delivers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and newness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a legacy-leaning strategy without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the Universal machine likely to revisit creepy live activations and micro spots that mixes attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out 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 branded as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward style can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can fuel PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that boosts both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video blends library titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival buys, finalizing horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent-year comps make sense of the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a dual release from thriving when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the year’s horror signal a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to navigate here be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way 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: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting tale that pipes the unease through a preteen’s wavering internal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. this content Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a imp source weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.