Ancient Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

One blood-curdling ghostly thriller from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient terror when guests become tokens in a demonic experiment. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of overcoming and timeless dread that will revolutionize the fear genre this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie screenplay follows five unknowns who awaken confined in a far-off cabin under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a ancient religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a immersive venture that blends soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a enduring trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the entities no longer descend from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most primal layer of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the narrative becomes a perpetual push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving woodland, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the evil force and spiritual invasion of a obscure figure. As the youths becomes submissive to evade her command, severed and preyed upon by evils unnamable, they are made to stand before their inner horrors while the deathwatch harrowingly draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and partnerships erode, urging each individual to reflect on their existence and the foundation of decision-making itself. The stakes grow with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to evoke core terror, an threat before modern man, channeling itself through human fragility, and wrestling with a being that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that shift is haunting because it is so deep.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering households anywhere can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its intro video, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For director insights, set experiences, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate melds old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Running from last-stand terror infused with primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated plus carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners stabilize the year with known properties, simultaneously platform operators load up the fall with fresh voices as well as old-world menace. At the same time, the independent cohort is drafting behind the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. 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 brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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.

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 oncoming terror slate: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle lines up right away with a January wave, after that flows through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can spike when it lands and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured executives that disciplined-budget chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can open on open real estate, create a grabby hook for spots and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the picture pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan exhibits conviction in that engine. The slate begins with a weighty January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall run that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also reflects the deeper integration of indie distributors and streamers that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and classic IP. The players are not just pushing another entry. They are seeking to position connection with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative leads behind the top original plays are celebrating practical craft, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That fusion yields 2026 a healthy mix of trust and newness, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected built on heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that melds affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation 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 longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can amplify PLF interest and convention buzz.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival additions, confirming horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a hybrid test from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

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

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years great post to read 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 fight to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that plays with the terror of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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 click site and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.