Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

One eerie paranormal nightmare movie from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old terror when outsiders become instruments in a devilish conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will resculpt scare flicks this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie screenplay follows five young adults who suddenly rise confined in a cut-off house under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a ancient sacred-era entity. Brace yourself to be hooked by a screen-based spectacle that merges raw fear with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the demons no longer originate from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most sinister part of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the tension becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving outland, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the possessive influence and grasp of a unidentified female figure. As the victims becomes incapacitated to fight her power, disconnected and chased by unknowns unfathomable, they are confronted to deal with their deepest fears while the final hour without pause pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and links break, pressuring each individual to reflect on their self and the philosophy of conscious will itself. The intensity surge with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken primal fear, an power before modern man, influencing human fragility, and wrestling with a evil that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is soul-crushing because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers across the world can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this mind-warping ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For director insights, production insights, and social posts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate melds old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside franchise surges

Spanning last-stand terror steeped in primordial scripture and onward to franchise returns alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most complex plus strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, while digital services prime the fall with new perspectives alongside mythic dread. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. 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 on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 oncoming chiller release year: installments, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The current horror calendar loads from day one with a January traffic jam, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the holiday stretch, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable tool in release plans, a category that can scale when it hits and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is a lane for different modes, from legacy continuations to original features that carry overseas. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of household franchises and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on big-screen windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now behaves like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can kick off on most weekends, offer a sharp concept for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with viewers that line up on opening previews and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the entry hits. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup indicates faith in that setup. The slate commences with a stacked January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a September to October window that pushes into spooky season and into the next week. The map also reflects the continuing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that binds a incoming chapter to a early run. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are embracing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of known notes and newness, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two high-profile pushes 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 core, angling it as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a classic-referencing angle without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the news campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is straightforward, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an AI companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to renew uncanny live moments and short-cut promos that fuses longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules 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 dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return have a peek here to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane 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 angle is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and image. 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 hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years outline the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to link the films through character and theme and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights 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 visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which match well with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that interrogates the panic of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. imp source The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 heavy premium placement 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 midrange-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 work those windows. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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 tactility, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.