Primeval Evil Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

This chilling mystic shockfest from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric horror when passersby become tools in a supernatural experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct the fear genre this fall. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic fearfest follows five figures who snap to imprisoned in a wooded shelter under the sinister rule of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a time-worn scriptural evil. Get ready to be captivated by a filmic venture that melds raw fear with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the entities no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This marks the most sinister dimension of the protagonists. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the plotline becomes a unforgiving conflict between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five figures find themselves confined under the unholy aura and control of a unknown woman. As the ensemble becomes powerless to oppose her grasp, stranded and preyed upon by terrors beyond reason, they are thrust to reckon with their deepest fears while the countdown relentlessly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and partnerships crack, coercing each cast member to question their values and the idea of personal agency itself. The threat magnify with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel elemental fright, an malevolence from prehistory, filtering through human fragility, and exposing a entity that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the haunting manifests, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring viewers across the world can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate melds biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, paired with series shake-ups

From endurance-driven terror steeped in primordial scripture as well as franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated and tactically planned year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios are anchoring the year with established lines, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is buoyed by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

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

Universal’s slate opens the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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 entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming terror season: brand plays, non-franchise titles, paired with A brimming Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The upcoming terror season crams right away with a January logjam, then flows through the warm months, and straight through the holiday frame, fusing marquee clout, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that convert these offerings into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The field has proven to be the most reliable lever in studio calendars, a vertical that can surge when it clicks and still hedge the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to top brass that disciplined-budget entries can own the discourse, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles highlighted there is an opening for a variety of tones, from series extensions to director-led originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across studios, with mapped-out bands, a blend of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with moviegoers that appear on previews Thursday and return through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern demonstrates assurance in that equation. The slate commences with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a fall cadence that runs into the fright window and into early November. The program also includes the increasing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and grow at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that reconnects a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing tactile craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That mix produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two centerpiece titles that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a legacy-leaning angle without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that hybridizes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are positioned as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, on-set effects led execution can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror rush that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation 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 explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using curated this content hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful 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+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed 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 rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first game 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 tough boss push to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that routes the horror through a young child’s volatile POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan bound to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows get redirected here for expanded PLF presence 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 value-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 exploit those windows. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean 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 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.