Antediluvian Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

A terrifying ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a satanic ritual. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of struggle and mythic evil that will revamp the fear genre this autumn. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic story follows five people who arise imprisoned in a wooded cabin under the oppressive will of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be prepared to be captivated by a narrative experience that fuses instinctive fear with ancestral stories, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the monsters no longer originate outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the most sinister dimension of the players. The result is a intense identity crisis where the events becomes a relentless face-off between moral forces.


In a unforgiving outland, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly dominion and spiritual invasion of a obscure woman. As the victims becomes unable to fight her will, isolated and tormented by entities ungraspable, they are cornered to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour relentlessly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and relationships collapse, forcing each soul to evaluate their values and the notion of self-determination itself. The pressure grow with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken primitive panic, an malevolence that existed before mankind, manifesting in psychological breaks, and navigating a darkness that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that flip is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving users anywhere can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this gripping fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to survive these dark realities about existence.


For cast commentary, special features, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: the 2025 season stateside slate integrates primeval-possession lore, underground frights, together with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread inspired by old testament echoes to legacy revivals plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned along with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms pack the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. At the same time, indie storytellers is surfing the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 to Watch

Old myth goes broad
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 pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror season: entries, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The incoming horror season loads immediately with a January bottleneck, before it flows through June and July, and deep into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that position horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has proven to be the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it resonates and still protect the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that mid-range genre plays can drive audience talk, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a harmony of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a clean hook for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with fans that line up on early shows and hold through the subsequent weekend if the release lands. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern shows trust in that model. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January block, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a October build that reaches into spooky season and afterwards. The program also shows the greater integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and classic IP. The players are not just producing another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that becomes a perilous partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to replay strange in-person beats and quick hits that interlaces devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-effects forward treatment can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror jolt that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing 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 longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that enhances both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed content with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival deals, timing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the Check This Out genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to move out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Keep an eye on 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest 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 tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, 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 works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which work nicely have a peek at these guys for convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

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

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

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 reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that interrogates the fright of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that skewers current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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 dimensionality, sound, 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.

A Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.