Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, landing October 2025 on top digital platforms

An spine-tingling mystic scare-fest from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic fear when strangers become vehicles in a demonic ritual. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of endurance and prehistoric entity that will redefine genre cinema this spooky time. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive feature follows five people who suddenly rise confined in a secluded lodge under the sinister control of Kyra, a cursed figure possessed by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Prepare to be seized by a cinematic event that unites gut-punch terror with ancient myths, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the entities no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This depicts the grimmest element of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the narrative becomes a perpetual struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a abandoned woodland, five individuals find themselves stuck under the fiendish effect and haunting of a uncanny woman. As the cast becomes vulnerable to escape her will, stranded and tracked by beings impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their darkest emotions while the countdown unceasingly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and links break, driving each cast member to evaluate their existence and the foundation of personal agency itself. The danger rise with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken core terror, an threat born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through mental cracks, and highlighting a spirit that tests the soul when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing fans anywhere can watch this demonic journey.


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


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these ghostly lessons about our species.


For bonus footage, special features, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces primeval-possession lore, underground frights, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Running from grit-forward survival fare rooted in ancient scripture to installment follow-ups alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, even as OTT services front-load the fall with fresh voices alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is carried on the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

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

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal starts the year with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by 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 the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews 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, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on 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 reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 genre Year Ahead: brand plays, fresh concepts, alongside A stacked Calendar geared toward frights

Dek The arriving terror cycle builds immediately with a January bottleneck, before it flows through June and July, and carrying into the late-year period, braiding franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The genre has turned into the bankable swing in studio calendars, a category that can surge when it performs and still cushion the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that mid-range horror vehicles can steer the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a reinvigorated eye on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, yield a clear pitch for spots and reels, and overperform with ticket buyers that line up on advance nights and stick through the subsequent weekend if the entry satisfies. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan exhibits belief in that model. The calendar commences with a crowded January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a October build that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a fan-service aware treatment without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Count on a promo wave driven by brand visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-cut promos that hybridizes companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are sold as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can boost PLF interest 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 Eggers’ run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that elevates both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title 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 challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 intimate haunting tale that routes the horror through a little one’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family linked to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. 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 gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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. 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 cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern my company also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.