Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

A chilling spectral suspense film from cinematographer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval terror when guests become tools in a hellish ritual. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of living through and ancient evil that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy thriller follows five lost souls who snap to confined in a off-grid lodge under the malevolent sway of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a filmic experience that harmonizes instinctive fear with mythic lore, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a time-honored trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the forces no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This mirrors the most primal aspect of the players. The result is a gripping identity crisis where the narrative becomes a brutal push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned landscape, five teens find themselves isolated under the malevolent force and control of a elusive entity. As the youths becomes powerless to deny her rule, abandoned and pursued by spirits beyond comprehension, they are driven to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the hours harrowingly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and partnerships disintegrate, coercing each survivor to evaluate their core and the integrity of decision-making itself. The threat escalate with every second, delivering a terror ride that marries occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel primitive panic, an evil that predates humanity, working through inner turmoil, and examining a being that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans across the world can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these ghostly lessons about mankind.


For cast commentary, on-set glimpses, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar braids together Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

From fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in mythic scripture and extending to franchise returns as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the richest as well as precision-timed year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, at the same time premium streamers saturate the fall with fresh voices as well as ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is fueled by the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by 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 feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The upcoming scare slate crams in short order with a January crush, then carries through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that pivot these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has become the most reliable swing in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it catches and still buffer the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year proved to executives that efficiently budgeted fright engines can own cultural conversation, 2024 continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles underscored there is a lane for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to original one-offs that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a blend of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized focus on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the slate. Horror can debut on most weekends, supply a easy sell for marketing and TikTok spots, and over-index with crowds that turn out on advance nights and stick through the next pass if the movie lands. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects belief in that playbook. The slate commences with a busy January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a fall corridor that extends to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also reflects the tightening integration of indie distributors and platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just producing another installment. They are working to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that links a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing offers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a classic-referencing mode without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to bring back odd public stunts and brief clips that interlaces romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working 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 sets up a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are presented as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered approach can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can stoke PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that optimizes both opening-weekend urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries toward the drop and eventizing launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with established auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track 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 setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind this slate forecast a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making my review here room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month ends 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 credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that routes the horror through a youth’s shifting personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.