Antediluvian Dread Reawakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across global platforms

This spine-tingling otherworldly suspense film from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primordial nightmare when passersby become subjects in a cursed contest. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing saga of living through and ancient evil that will reconstruct terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic tale follows five figures who are stirred trapped in a secluded cottage under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a antiquated religious nightmare. Be warned to be absorbed by a theatrical experience that fuses soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the beings no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This echoes the most sinister layer of every character. The result is a intense identity crisis where the emotions becomes a relentless tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five young people find themselves confined under the evil grip and possession of a secretive person. As the protagonists becomes incapable to fight her grasp, isolated and followed by creatures beyond reason, they are forced to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch brutally moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and links disintegrate, requiring each survivor to question their true nature and the idea of personal agency itself. The stakes climb with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to channel ancestral fear, an entity older than civilization itself, influencing psychological breaks, and questioning a power that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers worldwide can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this haunted voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup blends archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by primordial scripture as well as IP renewals plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned combined with precision-timed year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses hold down the year via recognizable brands, in parallel digital services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus old-world menace. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp opens the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: 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 arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 fright Year Ahead: installments, non-franchise titles, and also A jammed Calendar tailored for frights

Dek: The arriving horror season lines up from the jump with a January wave, before it runs through summer, and running into the holiday stretch, mixing IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy option in distribution calendars, a category that can break out when it lands and still buffer the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can own cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is a lane for different modes, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a mix of established brands and new concepts, and a recommitted strategy on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and home platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now works like a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can open on numerous frames, provide a tight logline for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with moviegoers that turn out on opening previews and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the entry connects. After a production delay era, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that playbook. The slate commences with a front-loaded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for audience offsets, while leaving room for a autumn push that extends to the Halloween frame and beyond. The arrangement also underscores the continuing integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and move wide at the right moment.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Studios are not just turning out another sequel. They are moving to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that indicates a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that ties a next film to a classic era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are embracing physical effects work, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of comfort and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and bite-size content that interlaces affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around canon, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and period language, this time set my company against lycan legends. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival wins, dating horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 flagged a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is known enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes 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 variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game 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 push to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. 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 home-set haunting tale that teases the horror of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for 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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family linked to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. 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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 dark-horse hit 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.