Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling spectral suspense film from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic horror when newcomers become pawns in a devilish ceremony. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will reshape terror storytelling this autumn. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and moody fearfest follows five characters who awaken ensnared in a wilderness-bound lodge under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a time-worn biblical demon. Get ready to be hooked by a cinematic venture that unites raw fear with mythic lore, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is flipped when the entities no longer come from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most sinister element of the victims. The result is a intense psychological battle where the narrative becomes a perpetual clash between light and darkness.


In a forsaken forest, five campers find themselves marooned under the malicious effect and infestation of a obscure entity. As the group becomes defenseless to reject her manipulation, detached and tormented by spirits mind-shattering, they are required to stand before their darkest emotions while the deathwatch relentlessly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and connections break, forcing each participant to evaluate their true nature and the philosophy of liberty itself. The consequences rise with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore ancestral fear, an darkness from ancient eras, filtering through fragile psyche, and confronting a entity that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the invasion happens, and that flip is shocking because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers internationally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


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


Don’t miss this haunted voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these unholy truths about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate weaves legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear inspired by biblical myth all the way to brand-name continuations paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year with established lines, concurrently digital services prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as scriptural shivers. On another front, the artisan tier is surfing the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting 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.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the WB camp launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring 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 narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

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.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

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. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming scare lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A hectic Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The brand-new scare season crowds at the outset with a January cluster, from there stretches through summer corridors, and deep into the year-end corridor, balancing legacy muscle, novel approaches, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that turn these pictures into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has established itself as the sturdy swing in release plans, a corner that can grow when it resonates and still insulate the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate audience talk, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is appetite for a spectrum, from series extensions to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across players, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed strategy on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on many corridors, deliver a clean hook for marketing and social clips, and lead with patrons that appear on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan telegraphs assurance in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a heavy January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a September to October window that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The calendar also highlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and heritage properties. The studios are not just producing another chapter. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a roots-evoking treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and quick hits that threads affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored navigate here as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are branded as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to own 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror charge that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can lift premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in immersive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that enhances both debut momentum and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed content with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, genre hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc 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 angle is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with broader reach. 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 reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design 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 sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month concludes 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 hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 struggle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that interrogates the unease of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced 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 shorter timelines. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.