Primeval Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked thriller, premiering October 2025 across top digital platforms

One unnerving spiritual suspense film from dramatist / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient horror when guests become tools in a malevolent ceremony. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of overcoming and timeless dread that will remodel genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric screenplay follows five young adults who snap to locked in a isolated wooden structure under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be shaken by a theatrical outing that merges bodily fright with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring fixture in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer appear externally, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the haunting part of every character. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the events becomes a unyielding push-pull between moral forces.


In a desolate forest, five souls find themselves stuck under the malevolent presence and possession of a unidentified being. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to resist her command, left alone and tormented by unknowns unnamable, they are driven to battle their greatest panics while the doomsday meter ruthlessly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and teams fracture, pressuring each member to examine their essence and the principle of volition itself. The consequences accelerate with every tick, delivering a horror experience that intertwines paranormal dread with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to evoke elemental fright, an evil older than civilization itself, emerging via soul-level flaws, and wrestling with a power that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the curse activates, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure households internationally can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this haunted voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these chilling revelations about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule blends Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning endurance-driven terror rooted in old testament echoes through to canon extensions as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios bookend the months using marquee IP, as streamers flood the fall with debut heat paired with legend-coded dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. 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 translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

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

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The coming 2026 spook release year: continuations, new stories, alongside A brimming Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The emerging terror year lines up from day one with a January traffic jam, thereafter spreads through the warm months, and pushing into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent tool in release plans, a genre that can grow when it performs and still limit the drawdown when it does not. After 2023 showed buyers that low-to-mid budget genre plays can steer audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and elevated films demonstrated there is space for varied styles, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that travel well. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, supply a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on preview nights and continue through the week two if the picture fires. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The year commences with a crowded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a casting choice that links a next film to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into practical craft, in-camera effects and specific settings. That convergence offers 2026 a confident blend of home base and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, framing it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a legacy-leaning angle without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push centered on heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches 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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven style can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run movies of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern audio-visual craft. 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 indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Watch 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 as a pair, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is steady enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which fit with expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner becomes something deadly romantic. 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 tale that pipes the unease through a kid’s shifting subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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 ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 low-to-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 wintry, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep 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 dimensionality, audio design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.