Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This frightening spiritual thriller from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial curse when unrelated individuals become tokens in a satanic contest. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of perseverance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy screenplay follows five strangers who come to locked in a isolated structure under the oppressive control of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Get ready to be hooked by a theatrical spectacle that fuses soul-chilling terror with folklore, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the entities no longer develop externally, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the darkest dimension of the players. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a barren no-man's-land, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent grip and inhabitation of a shadowy female figure. As the companions becomes incapacitated to break her rule, severed and chased by unknowns mind-shattering, they are obligated to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and bonds dissolve, compelling each member to reflect on their self and the integrity of self-determination itself. The threat escalate with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that marries ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into raw dread, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, filtering through mental cracks, and wrestling with a entity that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is shocking because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering watchers everywhere can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate weaves myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, plus series shake-ups

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with ancient scripture through to returning series plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified along with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, even as subscription platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with legend-coded dread. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fright year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, And A jammed Calendar Built For screams

Dek The emerging scare slate loads at the outset with a January pile-up, after that flows through summer, and running into the holidays, mixing legacy muscle, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that transform these pictures into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the dependable swing in release strategies, a space that can spike when it connects and still limit the floor when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded top brass that responsibly budgeted entries can command the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The trend rolled into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays demonstrated there is demand for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new concepts, and a reinvigorated priority on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and subscription services.

Buyers contend the genre now performs as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can kick off on most weekends, offer a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that appear on opening previews and stick through the second frame if the entry works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that playbook. The year kicks off with a thick January window, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also underscores the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another return. They are working to present brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that indicates a tonal shift or a casting choice that ties a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into physical effects work, real effects and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning framework without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run built on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that interweaves attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are sold as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, Check This Out on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by meticulous craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed films with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using timely promos, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival deals, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern mix and grade. 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 positioned a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to open out. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and widen scale. 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-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which match well with convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes 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 thick, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 stumble upon 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 scenario that mediates the fear via a youngster’s shifting subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 needles today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family bound to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, navigate here the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. 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, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.