Primordial Dread Returns in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

An haunting unearthly nightmare movie from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric curse when unrelated individuals become victims in a fiendish ritual. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of perseverance and age-old darkness that will resculpt terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic feature follows five figures who emerge confined in a secluded lodge under the menacing control of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a filmic ride that intertwines visceral dread with ancestral stories, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the presences no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most primal facet of the players. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the events becomes a unyielding clash between innocence and sin.


In a barren backcountry, five campers find themselves confined under the possessive rule and domination of a obscure female figure. As the victims becomes incapacitated to deny her will, severed and followed by entities ungraspable, they are pushed to face their greatest panics while the clock without pause winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and partnerships splinter, requiring each figure to scrutinize their values and the foundation of liberty itself. The consequences magnify with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover basic terror, an entity that predates humanity, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and examining a presence that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers from coast to coast can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this mind-warping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For teasers, extra content, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate blends myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, together with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with life-or-death fear inspired by ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most variegated and blueprinted year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses hold down the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously platform operators front-load the fall with new voices in concert with archetypal fear. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is carried on the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook Year Ahead: brand plays, standalone ideas, and also A packed Calendar designed for Scares

Dek The incoming horror slate loads from the jump with a January wave, before it unfolds through the summer months, and pushing into the holiday stretch, braiding series momentum, creative pitches, and shrewd offsets. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has emerged as the dependable play in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it hits and still protect the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles showed there is a market for varied styles, from returning installments to fresh IP that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with planned clusters, a blend of familiar brands and novel angles, and a tightened emphasis on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on PVOD and home platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a swing piece on the slate. Horror can debut on many corridors, supply a grabby hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and overperform with ticket buyers that lean in on Thursday previews and stick through the week two if the feature hits. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 layout reflects faith in that logic. The slate launches with a thick January block, then exploits spring through early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a autumn push that pushes into All Hallows period and into November. The grid also highlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just greenlighting another installment. They are moving to present connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a tonal shift or a cast configuration that ties a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on material texture, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That fusion offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a memory-charged treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that becomes a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are set up as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, physical-effects centered method can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, Get More Info 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation 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 longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors 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 meticulous craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a click to read more continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which align with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

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 lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 vision that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that toys with the horror of a child’s uncertain impressions. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

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

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundscape, and cinematography 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.