Antediluvian Terror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, landing October 2025 across premium platforms

A chilling paranormal nightmare movie from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless entity when guests become pawns in a diabolical experiment. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of survival and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct the fear genre this cool-weather season. Visualized by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic film follows five individuals who wake up confined in a secluded shelter under the menacing control of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a filmic event that merges intense horror with ancestral stories, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is twisted when the entities no longer descend from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the most hidden side of the group. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between good and evil.


In a forsaken forest, five figures find themselves sealed under the evil aura and grasp of a shadowy figure. As the companions becomes helpless to reject her control, abandoned and attacked by presences unimaginable, they are required to endure their darkest emotions while the clock mercilessly pushes forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and links splinter, demanding each person to scrutinize their values and the principle of free will itself. The tension climb with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that merges supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel basic terror, an spirit from ancient eras, working through human fragility, and wrestling with a entity that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is in denial until the evil takes hold, and that change is haunting because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring subscribers from coast to coast can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Witness this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For teasers, set experiences, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup interlaces Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, plus series shake-ups

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from legendary theology as well as installment follow-ups together with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex combined with strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios plant stakes across the year through proven series, while OTT services crowd the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their 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 tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new chiller slate: next chapters, new stories, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The new terror season loads early with a January wave, before it runs through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. Studios with streamers are committing to mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a category that can break out when it clicks and still mitigate the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to studio brass that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer audience talk, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and festival-grade titles made clear there is demand for different modes, from brand follow-ups to original features that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that appears tightly organized across the market, with planned clusters, a blend of legacy names and new concepts, and a re-energized stance on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Planners observe the category now functions as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, offer a clean hook for marketing and reels, and overperform with moviegoers that arrive on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film lands. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a heavy January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The calendar also highlights the greater integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and widen at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is series management across connected story worlds and established properties. Big banners are not just rolling another sequel. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new vibe or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are celebrating physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence gives 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a memory-charged angle without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push centered on legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short reels that melds romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed imp source under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that optimizes both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved this page infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. 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 shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

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

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 work to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a child’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.