Primordial Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major platforms

One spine-tingling spiritual suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric entity when passersby become instruments in a dark game. Going live October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of survival and primeval wickedness that will transform scare flicks this scare season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic screenplay follows five strangers who snap to trapped in a far-off structure under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a female presence dominated by a legendary religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be seized by a audio-visual journey that unites bone-deep fear with mythic lore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reversed when the fiends no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This represents the malevolent dimension of the protagonists. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the story becomes a soul-crushing conflict between right and wrong.


In a remote backcountry, five teens find themselves stuck under the sinister dominion and possession of a mysterious woman. As the cast becomes paralyzed to resist her influence, abandoned and stalked by presences indescribable, they are required to stand before their core terrors while the countdown coldly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust deepens and partnerships shatter, pushing each individual to examine their existence and the concept of decision-making itself. The intensity climb with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore elemental fright, an force older than civilization itself, manipulating psychological breaks, and exposing a will that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers in all regions can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this life-altering descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, Indie Shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survival horror suffused with near-Eastern lore all the way to legacy revivals plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered and precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, even as subscription platforms crowd the fall with fresh voices alongside archetypal fear. On another front, the artisan tier is surfing the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. 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, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by 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 night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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 is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming chiller season: brand plays, new stories, as well as A loaded Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The current horror season loads up front with a January wave, following that carries through midyear, and straight through the festive period, combining marquee clout, inventive spins, and strategic counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that transform these pictures into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has established itself as the consistent release in release plans, a category that can grow when it breaks through and still cushion the floor when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for studio brass that modestly budgeted chillers can own audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across players, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and fresh ideas, and a re-energized eye on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a versatile piece on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, deliver a quick sell for creative and social clips, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on advance nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that setup. The calendar begins with a weighty January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a late-year stretch that pushes into late October and past Halloween. The schedule also illustrates the expanded integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the timely point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. The studios are not just turning out another entry. They are trying to present lineage with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that flags a re-angled tone or a casting choice that anchors a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion yields the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a legacy-leaning strategy without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an AI companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to recreate strange in-person beats and snackable content that hybridizes devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation 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 gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Look for 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 parallel, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate favors the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not block a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror suggest a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

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 brooding contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the power balance upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that interrogates the panic of a child’s fragile perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household linked to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. 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 in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, 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 tactility, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and Young & Cursed slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.