Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

An bone-chilling supernatural suspense story from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old fear when outsiders become pawns in a malevolent experiment. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of resilience and ancient evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who come to stuck in a wooded house under the malevolent power of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be shaken by a audio-visual spectacle that fuses raw fear with biblical origins, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the presences no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from their core. This echoes the darkest element of the cast. The result is a gripping mind game where the suspense becomes a merciless contest between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the evil grip and haunting of a enigmatic female figure. As the group becomes incapacitated to evade her curse, severed and tracked by forces beyond reason, they are cornered to encounter their inner horrors while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and friendships crack, pushing each protagonist to examine their self and the foundation of decision-making itself. The hazard magnify with every instant, delivering a horror experience that connects otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into primitive panic, an spirit from ancient eras, manifesting in our fears, and questioning a evil that forces self-examination when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering horror lovers internationally can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this cinematic trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these unholy truths about the human condition.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 U.S. rollouts Mixes old-world possession, independent shockers, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with survival horror steeped in old testament echoes as well as IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned paired with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners bookend the months with established lines, at the same time OTT services flood the fall with unboxed visions set against scriptural shivers. On another front, the artisan tier is riding the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new genre calendar year ahead: installments, universe starters, as well as A hectic Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek: The upcoming scare cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, before it spreads through peak season, and far into the holidays, braiding brand equity, creative pitches, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that position these releases into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has proven to be the predictable swing in studio lineups, a category that can accelerate when it performs and still mitigate the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from continued chapters to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with defined corridors, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can kick off on many corridors, furnish a grabby hook for creative and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on first-look nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture fires. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also underscores the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand strategy across shared universes and legacy IP. Major shops are not just rolling another follow-up. They are working to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and quick hits that melds longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are sold as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Keep an eye on 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 jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from this page a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to thread films through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win 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 premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, this content likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding see here boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 household haunting setup that channels the fear through a young child’s shifting personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. 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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 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. 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined 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 surface detail, soundcraft, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.