Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A unnerving mystic thriller from scriptwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried force when unknowns become victims in a fiendish trial. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense chronicle of struggle and forgotten curse that will transform terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody thriller follows five characters who snap to sealed in a secluded lodge under the malignant influence of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a time-worn religious nightmare. Be prepared to be shaken by a audio-visual display that intertwines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer arise externally, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the deepest layer of each of them. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a relentless face-off between moral forces.


In a barren no-man's-land, five characters find themselves trapped under the ghastly presence and infestation of a secretive person. As the team becomes incapacitated to resist her grasp, abandoned and pursued by terrors mind-shattering, they are pushed to confront their darkest emotions while the time without pity counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties implode, compelling each soul to evaluate their core and the structure of self-determination itself. The tension rise with every instant, delivering a terror ride that fuses occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore core terror, an threat from prehistory, working through our weaknesses, and exposing a curse that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households around the globe can face this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these terrifying truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and updates via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans American release plan melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, paired with IP aftershocks

Spanning last-stand terror infused with scriptural legend all the way to franchise returns together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most complex along with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, even as SVOD players pack the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal banner opens the year with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, 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 is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

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

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

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, 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. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

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

Forward View: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The oncoming scare release year: continuations, standalone ideas, alongside A jammed Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek: The upcoming terror calendar clusters from day one with a January crush, then runs through the mid-year, and straight through the late-year period, marrying brand equity, untold stories, and calculated offsets. Studios with streamers are prioritizing smart costs, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that position genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has become the dependable counterweight in studio lineups, a segment that can accelerate when it breaks through and still cushion the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget pictures can lead cultural conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers proved there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to standalone ideas that export nicely. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of household franchises and new concepts, and a renewed commitment on cinema windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and home streaming.

Executives say the genre now acts as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can debut on many corridors, furnish a easy sell for creative and shorts, and overperform with viewers that turn out on opening previews and sustain through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates belief in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a busy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a fall cadence that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The arrangement also highlights the increasing integration of indie arms and subscription services that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and move wide at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across shared universes and classic IP. Major shops are not just turning out another installment. They are trying to present connection with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a new tone or a star attachment that ties a latest entry to a first wave. At the same time, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical gags and grounded locations. That combination offers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring approach without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push driven by signature symbols, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that evolves into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror eerie street stunts and brief clips that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reset 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 diehards and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. 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 suggested a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Be ready for 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 together, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to have a peek at these guys brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said 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 long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures 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: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that channels the fear through a preteen’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, 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 blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong 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 respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.