Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

One hair-raising ghostly fright fest from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric dread when passersby become conduits in a hellish contest. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish depiction of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will revamp the fear genre this cool-weather season. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic feature follows five individuals who awaken caught in a wooded shack under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a visual ride that combines visceral dread with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the fiends no longer appear from external sources, but rather internally. This symbolizes the most primal layer of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a merciless face-off between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the evil presence and spiritual invasion of a unidentified woman. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to reject her curse, severed and pursued by creatures beyond comprehension, they are cornered to reckon with their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter relentlessly counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and relationships dissolve, pushing each person to reconsider their self and the structure of autonomy itself. The stakes mount with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into core terror, an curse beyond time, manifesting in psychological breaks, and challenging a spirit that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households everywhere can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has seen over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these nightmarish insights about our species.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 stateside slate blends old-world possession, festival-born jolts, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from life-or-death fear steeped in primordial scripture as well as canon extensions paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified combined with strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, at the same time premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions as well as archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is fueled by the carry of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting 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.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by 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. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the Warner lot launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: 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. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 reads as sharp positioning. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new fright year to come: continuations, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar designed for chills

Dek The current terror slate crams from day one with a January cluster, thereafter spreads through midyear, and continuing into the year-end corridor, balancing IP strength, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are committing to responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that pivot these offerings into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has turned into the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a segment that can spike when it lands and still mitigate the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that modestly budgeted chillers can dominate pop culture, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The energy pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays showed there is appetite for diverse approaches, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a combination of legacy names and novel angles, and a refocused attention on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now functions as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can launch on numerous frames, supply a quick sell for creative and reels, and over-index with viewers that appear on early shows and stay strong through the second frame if the title pays off. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals belief in that equation. The slate rolls out with a thick January block, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a autumn push that runs into late October and into early November. The grid also reflects the ongoing integration of specialized labels and streamers that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and roll out at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across linked properties and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another return. They are seeking to position continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a talent selection that links a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of brand comfort and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two headline plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in brand visuals, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on 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 in tandem, using get redirected here small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a parallel release from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and grow scope. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 demanding boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that filters its scares through a little one’s flickering perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. 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 comic send-up that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. 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: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-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 maximize those pockets. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and picture 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 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.