Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

An hair-raising spectral fear-driven tale from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic horror when passersby become pawns in a satanic maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of overcoming and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize terror storytelling this harvest season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie tale follows five individuals who come to trapped in a remote lodge under the dark influence of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a antiquated ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a screen-based outing that unites raw fear with mythic lore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the demons no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This embodies the most primal facet of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the intensity becomes a unyielding conflict between innocence and sin.


In a haunting landscape, five campers find themselves contained under the possessive influence and control of a uncanny figure. As the characters becomes powerless to break her influence, left alone and tormented by entities indescribable, they are forced to encounter their deepest fears while the countdown ruthlessly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia rises and ties dissolve, forcing each soul to examine their character and the integrity of independent thought itself. The intensity accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract instinctual horror, an threat born of forgotten ages, filtering through fragile psyche, and confronting a presence that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences anywhere can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to acknowledge these unholy truths about human nature.


For director insights, making-of footage, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





U.S. horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Beginning with endurance-driven terror suffused with scriptural legend through to legacy revivals in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, simultaneously platform operators crowd the fall with unboxed visions in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, the artisan tier is buoyed by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

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

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with 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.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. 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 continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

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

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 new fear Year Ahead: entries, original films, in tandem with A hectic Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The incoming genre slate builds in short order with a January traffic jam, then carries through the summer months, and carrying into the winter holidays, balancing series momentum, creative pitches, and data-minded counterweight. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that turn horror entries into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year proved to studio brass that modestly budgeted chillers can lead cultural conversation, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays underscored there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the category now operates like a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can open on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that lean in on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the movie satisfies. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a autumn push that connects to late October and into the next week. The calendar also shows the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the directors behind the marquee originals are doubling down on on-set craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That mix provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an AI companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that hybridizes devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, horror hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to go wider. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Keep an eye on 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 as partners, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 filmed in sequence, enables marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Source Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 work to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that mediates the fear via a youth’s uncertain perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead 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 reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. 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 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night 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 texture, soundcraft, and framing 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, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.