Ancient Darkness stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

This blood-curdling supernatural horror tale from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an prehistoric evil when foreigners become puppets in a devilish struggle. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing narrative of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will redefine horror this autumn. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric story follows five young adults who are stirred isolated in a wilderness-bound cottage under the aggressive command of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be seized by a screen-based journey that melds bone-deep fear with folklore, streaming 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 recurring theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the fiends no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the haunting facet of the players. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a relentless confrontation between purity and corruption.


In a haunting natural abyss, five campers find themselves contained under the unholy force and haunting of a mysterious female figure. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to combat her rule, left alone and stalked by spirits beyond comprehension, they are cornered to wrestle with their core terrors while the seconds ruthlessly ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and alliances collapse, requiring each figure to reflect on their true nature and the idea of autonomy itself. The tension mount with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken ancestral fear, an power from prehistory, manipulating emotional fractures, and dealing with a darkness that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that evolution is eerie because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences around the globe can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has pulled in over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this visceral fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to experience these terrifying truths about the soul.


For previews, special features, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, and series shake-ups

Running from life-or-death fear saturated with primordial scripture and extending to series comebacks alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as calculated campaign year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses stabilize the year by way of signature titles, in parallel subscription platforms load up the fall with new perspectives in concert with scriptural shivers. At the same time, the independent cohort is catching the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal fires the first shot with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for 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 ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but 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.

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 an astute call. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next terror lineup: Sequels, fresh concepts, And A packed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The upcoming horror cycle stacks right away with a January wave, then spreads through summer corridors, and running into the holidays, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and tactical counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that turn the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror has grown into the steady counterweight in studio lineups, a segment that can lift when it catches and still safeguard the drag when it does not. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can dominate the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and stealth successes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles signaled there is space for a variety of tones, from series extensions to original features that perform internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a grid that is strikingly coherent across companies, with clear date clusters, a pairing of known properties and first-time concepts, and a recommitted commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and digital services.

Insiders argue the category now slots in as a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, create a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and exceed norms with patrons that come out on Thursday previews and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the movie works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration exhibits faith in that approach. The year opens with a thick January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn stretch that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The layout also illustrates the expanded integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and widen at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. The studios are not just pushing another return. They are trying to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that announces a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that connects a new entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That mix offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and freshness, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a throwback-friendly framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew eerie street stunts and short reels that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are set up as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning execution can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Look for a red-band summer horror jolt that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can boost format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 characterized by minute detail and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival buys, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not prevent a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence check over here of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 meaningful, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that explores the fright of a child’s tricky read. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 quiet 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday 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, sound, and camera work 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.