Antediluvian Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense film from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless curse when unknowns become instruments in a satanic struggle. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of resilience and timeless dread that will reconstruct the horror genre this fall. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five young adults who emerge ensnared in a cut-off lodge under the sinister control of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a timeless scriptural evil. Be prepared to be shaken by a immersive presentation that weaves together intense horror with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the dark entities no longer originate from a different plane, but rather deep within. This represents the most primal version of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the drama becomes a intense conflict between good and evil.


In a bleak landscape, five figures find themselves trapped under the ominous influence and inhabitation of a uncanny apparition. As the characters becomes defenseless to resist her influence, isolated and tracked by spirits unnamable, they are compelled to endure their darkest emotions while the moments unceasingly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia intensifies and bonds fracture, compelling each person to reconsider their values and the philosophy of freedom of choice itself. The hazard escalate with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries paranormal dread with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into basic terror, an presence that existed before mankind, filtering through our weaknesses, and wrestling with a evil that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is eerie because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers worldwide can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping fall into madness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these chilling revelations about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. lineup melds archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, together with IP aftershocks

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with legendary theology all the way to canon extensions alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured paired with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios hold down the year via recognizable brands, as platform operators prime the fall with unboxed visions and ancient terrors. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is carried on the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, 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: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

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

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching Horror Year Ahead: next chapters, new stories, alongside A packed Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek: The fresh scare cycle crowds from the jump with a January glut, thereafter spreads through June and July, and running into the holidays, mixing franchise firepower, new voices, and calculated alternatives. Distributors with platforms are focusing on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that turn horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has solidified as the predictable option in programming grids, a lane that can surge when it connects and still buffer the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can lead the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum pushed into 2025, where reboots and elevated films signaled there is a lane for several lanes, from continued chapters to original features that play globally. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of established brands and untested plays, and a refocused focus on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and digital services.

Planners observe the genre now slots in as a utility player on the grid. Horror can roll out on nearly any frame, yield a clean hook for trailers and vertical videos, and overperform with crowds that come out on Thursday previews and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the entry pays off. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 configuration indicates comfort in that logic. The slate launches with a stacked January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into early November. The calendar also spotlights the greater integration of specialized labels and home platforms that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and legacy IP. The players are not just rolling another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that signals a new vibe or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the top original plays are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That mix yields 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket pushes that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a roots-evoking mode without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will chase broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, somber, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are presented as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The this content franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven method can feel cinematic on a check over here controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a reimagined 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 explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on obsessive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that expands both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video pairs licensed content with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival pickups, securing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful 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+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with prestige directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Expect 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 boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which play well in convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is jammed. 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 closes 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 meaningful, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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: Lensed back-to-back 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting tale that refracts terror through a little one’s volatile POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, get redirected here 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 search for sleepers 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery 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 Looks Exciting

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.