Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense story from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when unfamiliar people become conduits in a satanic struggle. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of continuance and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy story follows five people who find themselves locked in a wooded house under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a central character possessed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be captivated by a audio-visual event that unites deep-seated panic with legendary tales, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the forces no longer originate from external sources, but rather internally. This symbolizes the deepest version of all involved. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the drama becomes a ongoing struggle between purity and corruption.


In a haunting natural abyss, five friends find themselves trapped under the malevolent aura and overtake of a uncanny apparition. As the victims becomes paralyzed to fight her control, abandoned and stalked by creatures mind-shattering, they are cornered to encounter their inner demons while the seconds relentlessly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and ties collapse, driving each soul to contemplate their personhood and the nature of liberty itself. The consequences escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract primitive panic, an curse that predates humanity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and testing a darkness that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant evoking something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about our species.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts melds legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against tentpole growls

Across grit-forward survival fare drawn from primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel subscription platforms stack the fall with discovery plays paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is catching the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fright release year: next chapters, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek: The new genre slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Studios and streamers are betting on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that disciplined-budget fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can launch on nearly any frame, yield a easy sell for spots and TikTok spots, and outstrip with crowds that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the feature lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The calendar launches with a heavy January block, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to the fright window and into November. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across unified worlds and long-running brands. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a memory-charged strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a fresh restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of precision releases and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has proved effective 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 safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which align with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: useful reference Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends 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 comes back 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: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first game 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 severe boss push to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that refracts terror through a preteen’s shifting point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family tethered to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. 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 period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 quiet 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. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sonics, and image-making 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 Promising 2026

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.