Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on global platforms

One unnerving spiritual thriller from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten dread when drifters become proxies in a demonic contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will alter the horror genre this ghoul season. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric story follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred stuck in a wilderness-bound shack under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a legendary biblical force. Ready yourself to be shaken by a theatrical venture that integrates intense horror with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the monsters no longer manifest from beyond, but rather inside them. This echoes the most sinister dimension of every character. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the plotline becomes a perpetual clash between purity and corruption.


In a desolate backcountry, five individuals find themselves isolated under the fiendish aura and inhabitation of a unidentified female presence. As the characters becomes powerless to break her control, cut off and attacked by spirits unimaginable, they are compelled to deal with their darkest emotions while the time harrowingly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and connections splinter, compelling each protagonist to contemplate their identity and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The stakes magnify with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to uncover pure dread, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, emerging via inner turmoil, and dealing with a being that threatens selfhood when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that shift is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences no matter where they are can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this life-altering journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these unholy truths about free will.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the official website.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate weaves primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning grit-forward survival fare suffused with near-Eastern lore and onward to returning series alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered combined with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with franchise anchors, as SVOD players load up the fall with debut heat in concert with legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the independent cohort is surfing the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. 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.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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 a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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 fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming terror Year Ahead: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, and also A hectic Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The incoming horror calendar crowds up front with a January glut, following that flows through the summer months, and running into the late-year period, combining legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical offsets. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on smart costs, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured executives that modestly budgeted scare machines can galvanize social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind fed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays highlighted there is an opening for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated stance on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Buyers contend the category now performs as a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can arrive on almost any weekend, create a clean hook for teasers and vertical videos, and outperform with crowds that arrive on early shows and return through the week two if the movie delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates faith in that approach. The slate launches with a front-loaded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while making space for a late-year stretch that pushes into late October and into November. The gridline also shows the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. The studios are not just greenlighting another next film. They are working to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that signals a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that connects a next entry to a initial period. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to on-set craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That blend gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a nostalgia-forward treatment without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push rooted in brand visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, grief-rooted, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay odd public stunts and brief clips that hybridizes affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled this content event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, practical-first execution can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Look for a splatter summer horror blast that embraces worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel large-format demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by historical precision and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the horror 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month closes 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 serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 closed-door haunting chiller that twists the chill of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-scale and marquee-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family anchored to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 search for sleepers 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.