Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across global platforms

One chilling metaphysical shockfest from author / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten nightmare when unfamiliar people become subjects in a diabolical struggle. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish story of overcoming and timeless dread that will reimagine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive story follows five teens who wake up trapped in a wilderness-bound shack under the sinister sway of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be captivated by a screen-based venture that combines instinctive fear with mythic lore, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic trope in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the presences no longer develop beyond the self, but rather internally. This embodies the most primal facet of every character. The result is a intense mental war where the tension becomes a perpetual clash between right and wrong.


In a bleak landscape, five teens find themselves contained under the malevolent rule and control of a obscure apparition. As the team becomes incapacitated to reject her curse, disconnected and pursued by evils ungraspable, they are thrust to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the timeline brutally moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and links fracture, compelling each soul to rethink their personhood and the principle of self-determination itself. The pressure accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that harmonizes unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into ancestral fear, an force from ancient eras, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and wrestling with a presence that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that evolution is haunting because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers across the world can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this visceral fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For previews, making-of footage, and announcements via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus domestic schedule braids together biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, plus brand-name tremors

Spanning last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered in tandem with strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, even as OTT services stack the fall with fresh voices plus archetypal fear. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. 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 Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, 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. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching Horror calendar year ahead: returning titles, new stories, as well as A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek: The fresh genre slate stacks early with a January cluster, before it unfolds through midyear, and far into the December corridor, combining franchise firepower, new concepts, and shrewd alternatives. Studios with streamers are embracing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the predictable play in studio slates, a lane that can lift when it resonates and still insulate the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that efficiently budgeted chillers can command social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The run fed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles showed there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to original one-offs that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the market, with planned clusters, a mix of familiar brands and new pitches, and a recommitted focus on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now works like a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can launch on a wide range of weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with ticket buyers that line up on advance nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the title works. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates assurance in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a loaded January band, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that carries into Halloween and past the holiday. The schedule also shows the increasing integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Studio teams are not just rolling another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are favoring tactile craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning campaign without going over the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence 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 together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele titles are framed as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a tactile, practical-first execution can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror jolt that leans hard into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is billing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both launch urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to scale. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and auteur plays provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns announce the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. imp source 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries point to a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 legit, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Post-January through spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive 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 moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

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 encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 prickly boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 residential haunting premise that toys with the fear of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 send-up revival that skewers current genre trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan bound to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.