Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A chilling otherworldly suspense story from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval evil when newcomers become tools in a cursed struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of living through and mythic evil that will reshape terror storytelling this harvest season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive tale follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness stuck in a hidden shack under the hostile rule of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be captivated by a screen-based journey that integrates deep-seated panic with mythic lore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a recurring trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the presences no longer descend beyond the self, but rather deep within. This illustrates the malevolent side of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the drama becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken terrain, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the dark effect and control of a unknown woman. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to oppose her command, abandoned and attacked by entities inconceivable, they are cornered to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the seconds harrowingly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and ties implode, pressuring each figure to scrutinize their values and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The tension magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that weaves together otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract raw dread, an entity that predates humanity, manipulating human fragility, and dealing with a will that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the invasion happens, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers worldwide can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Tune in for this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these terrifying truths about our species.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, underground frights, alongside brand-name tremors

Across survival horror saturated with near-Eastern lore as well as canon extensions plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted and precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios set cornerstones using marquee IP, concurrently platform operators stack the fall with debut heat paired with legend-coded dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is propelled by the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

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

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for 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 sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the WB camp launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

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

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is 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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear Year Ahead: brand plays, original films, alongside A loaded Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The incoming horror calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, and then stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, new voices, and smart release strategy. Studios with streamers are doubling down on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has turned into the consistent move in studio lineups, a lane that can accelerate when it hits and still buffer the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for buyers that modestly budgeted entries can command the discourse, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings signaled there is room for different modes, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a slate that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with intentional bunching, a blend of established brands and novel angles, and a recommitted emphasis on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now performs as a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can kick off on most weekends, yield a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release works. After a production delay era, the 2026 pattern telegraphs belief in that playbook. The calendar begins with a front-loaded January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also underscores the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, create conversation, and expand at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. The companies are not just producing another continuation. They are aiming to frame connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a talent selection that connects a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the directors behind the marquee originals are doubling down on practical craft, physical gags and grounded locations. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that blurs companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

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 pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both debut momentum and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival wins, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not block a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind the year’s horror forecast a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie have a peek at this web-site 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that threads the dread through a child’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly 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 needles modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: pending. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 sleeper overperformer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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 qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.