Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on global platforms

This terrifying mystic horror tale from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried malevolence when unrelated individuals become tools in a malevolent trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of resistance and primordial malevolence that will reimagine genre cinema this October. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and gothic screenplay follows five young adults who wake up imprisoned in a wilderness-bound cottage under the aggressive will of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Anticipate to be shaken by a screen-based adventure that intertwines bodily fright with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the forces no longer form outside their bodies, but rather internally. This illustrates the darkest shade of the players. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a unyielding clash between virtue and vice.


In a bleak no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves marooned under the ominous influence and inhabitation of a secretive woman. As the characters becomes unresisting to oppose her dominion, cut off and hunted by beings unimaginable, they are confronted to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the final hour without pity counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and ties erode, coercing each survivor to evaluate their character and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The intensity escalate with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover primitive panic, an evil that existed before mankind, filtering through human fragility, and highlighting a curse that challenges autonomy when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing watchers around the globe can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule Mixes archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare suffused with ancient scripture and extending to brand-name continuations together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured in tandem with precision-timed year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios lock in tentpoles with known properties, at the same time SVOD players pack the fall with new voices together with legend-coded dread. On another front, the artisan tier is fueled by the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, 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 continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted 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 project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: Sequels, fresh concepts, together with A busy Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new scare cycle clusters from day one with a January bottleneck, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This space has solidified as the predictable swing in studio lineups, a genre that can accelerate when it catches and still limit the drag when it does not. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that efficiently budgeted scare machines can steer pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is demand for a variety of tones, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of familiar brands and novel angles, and a renewed strategy on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and digital services.

Insiders argue the genre now operates like a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can debut on open real estate, furnish a easy sell for trailers and short-form placements, and overperform with ticket buyers that arrive on early shows and keep coming through the next pass if the picture connects. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence signals belief in that setup. The slate kicks off with a loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall cadence that runs into the fright window and into early November. The layout also reflects the continuing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and widen at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just pushing another next film. They are setting up lineage with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a reframed mood or a lead change that anchors a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and vivid settings. That pairing produces 2026 a vital pairing of assurance and shock, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a baton pass and a rootsy character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a classic-referencing treatment without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave built on signature symbols, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own 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 top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a efficient spend. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify PLF interest 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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and collection rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising 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 Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch 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 as partners, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is steady enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

The last three-year set announce the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

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 rethreads 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 grieving man’s machine mate unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled see here Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a youngster’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. 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 period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.