Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A hair-raising spiritual suspense film from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval malevolence when unknowns become subjects in a supernatural struggle. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of resistance and old world terror that will revolutionize horror this season. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic feature follows five young adults who awaken ensnared in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the malignant command of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be ensnared by a theatrical experience that weaves together gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the monsters no longer appear from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the malevolent version of each of them. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the drama becomes a perpetual contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving forest, five teens find themselves trapped under the ominous aura and control of a elusive figure. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to withstand her command, exiled and tracked by evils impossible to understand, they are compelled to stand before their core terrors while the final hour unceasingly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and associations fracture, pushing each member to evaluate their core and the integrity of self-determination itself. The consequences climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that blends unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into pure dread, an presence rooted in antiquity, feeding on inner turmoil, and navigating a presence that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans in all regions can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this haunted voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these chilling revelations about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with series shake-ups

From survival horror drawn from primordial scripture through to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside mythic dread. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, 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. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, 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. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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 overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fright calendar year ahead: Sequels, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek: The new genre calendar loads from day one with a January traffic jam, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, blending name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable tool in release plans, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the discourse, the following year sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the second frame if the entry works. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping indicates confidence in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January run, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a autumn stretch that pushes into late October and afterwards. The layout also illustrates the greater integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just turning out another continuation. They are shaping as connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that anchors a new installment to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That blend delivers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell Source back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a fan-service aware treatment without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an machine companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as director events, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around world-building, and creature design, elements that can increase large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival pickups, locking in horror entries toward the drop and staging as events debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with prestige directors or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with award possibilities. 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 reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps frame the method. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a day-date move from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off 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 gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 prickly boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that channels the fear through a young child’s shifting POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. 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 elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, 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 beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, 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 optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.