Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

An frightening otherworldly fright fest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval horror when newcomers become puppets in a cursed game. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of living through and old world terror that will alter scare flicks this season. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie film follows five teens who wake up isolated in a secluded hideaway under the dark rule of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be immersed by a screen-based ride that blends bodily fright with mystical narratives, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the forces no longer arise externally, but rather deep within. This embodies the grimmest layer of all involved. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the drama becomes a merciless tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a remote natural abyss, five friends find themselves trapped under the unholy sway and overtake of a uncanny entity. As the team becomes submissive to reject her grasp, marooned and chased by creatures unnamable, they are forced to confront their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter without pause edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and alliances implode, coercing each individual to examine their identity and the concept of free will itself. The cost grow with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon basic terror, an threat from ancient eras, manipulating human fragility, and dealing with a presence that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering viewers in all regions can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For teasers, set experiences, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 in focus domestic schedule Mixes ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most textured together with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, in parallel streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions together with ancestral chills. On another front, the art-house flank is riding the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. 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, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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 to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new terror release year: next chapters, new stories, paired with A loaded Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The upcoming scare year builds at the outset with a January cluster, following that carries through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that shape these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a genre that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can drive the national conversation, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated strategy on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the genre now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can bow on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for ad units and social clips, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and keep coming through the next weekend if the entry fires. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm indicates trust in that playbook. The slate kicks off with a weighty January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a fall corridor that reaches into late October and afterwards. The schedule also illustrates the expanded integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and scale up at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are looking to package continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that threads a latest entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most watched originals are favoring on-set craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of trust and shock, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two headline projects that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a roots-evoking mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that mixes devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up 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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel high-value on a middle budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined 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 focus to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can amplify large-format demand and convention buzz.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that optimizes both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the after-window. Prime Video pairs library titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival wins, slotting horror entries closer to drop and turning into events rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will navigate here push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to open out. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind these films suggest a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens 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 feeds 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal 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 rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss push to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and creeping 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 story that toys with the dread of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household caught in past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 stealth-hit search 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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 visual texture, sound, and cinematography 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 Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, roll out exact trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.