Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling chiller, launching Oct 2025 on premium platforms

One blood-curdling unearthly horror tale from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless terror when guests become victims in a malevolent game. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of struggle and old world terror that will reconstruct genre cinema this cool-weather season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic screenplay follows five unknowns who suddenly rise locked in a remote structure under the menacing power of Kyra, a possessed female occupied by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a filmic ride that fuses bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a enduring trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the fiends no longer appear externally, but rather from their psyche. This represents the most primal element of the victims. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a constant clash between good and evil.


In a abandoned backcountry, five youths find themselves trapped under the malevolent grip and inhabitation of a shadowy female presence. As the group becomes incapable to reject her command, left alone and stalked by evils beyond comprehension, they are made to encounter their darkest emotions while the countdown harrowingly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and ties implode, requiring each cast member to doubt their essence and the foundation of personal agency itself. The intensity climb with every breath, delivering a terror ride that marries supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into ancestral fear, an force beyond time, channeling itself through mental cracks, and dealing with a power that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure viewers everywhere can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has seen over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this life-altering fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these dark realities about existence.


For director insights, production news, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from survival horror drawn from old testament echoes as well as legacy revivals paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time streamers stack the fall with debut heat alongside ancient terrors. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is catching the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The 2026 genre year to come: installments, standalone ideas, and also A brimming Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The current horror cycle lines up in short order with a January traffic jam, after that unfolds through the summer months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, balancing name recognition, new voices, and tactical calendar placement. Studios and platforms are leaning into right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these releases into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has solidified as the sturdy release in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still insulate the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted pictures can drive mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is capacity for multiple flavors, from returning installments to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that presents tight coordination across studios, with strategic blocks, a spread of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now works like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, create a quick sell for ad units and platform-native cuts, and outpace with fans that lean in on first-look nights and keep coming through the week two if the movie fires. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows certainty in that setup. The slate starts with a weighty January corridor, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a September to October window that reaches into the fright window and into the next week. The grid also shows the continuing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Major shops are not just releasing another installment. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that signals a tonal shift or a casting pivot that ties a next entry to a first wave. At the in tandem, the directors behind the top original plays are embracing real-world builds, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and newness, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a classic-referencing mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on brand visuals, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that interweaves love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival snaps, dating horror entries tight to release and eventizing launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of precision releases and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps make sense of the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genes. 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 loss-struck man’s AI companion grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige Source survival-horror continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that pipes the unease through a preteen’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action spectacle. 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: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate 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 coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 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 set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, 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 grain, audio design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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.