Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

A bone-chilling mystic shockfest from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic force when drifters become conduits in a diabolical ceremony. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of overcoming and timeless dread that will reimagine terror storytelling this October. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody film follows five people who come to caught in a hidden lodge under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female claimed by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be seized by a visual adventure that combines deep-seated panic with folklore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a long-standing fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the malevolences no longer emerge from external sources, but rather from their core. This represents the malevolent element of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the drama becomes a constant fight between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five adults find themselves cornered under the fiendish control and curse of a secretive character. As the team becomes unresisting to evade her control, stranded and stalked by beings unimaginable, they are required to wrestle with their deepest fears while the timeline relentlessly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust rises and associations crack, forcing each participant to contemplate their essence and the concept of conscious will itself. The pressure intensify with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into deep fear, an darkness born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and examining a curse that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is unaware until the spirit seizes her, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers worldwide can face this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has pulled in over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Witness this cinematic descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup integrates myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

Ranging from survival horror saturated with legendary theology through to legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned plus strategic year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors lock in tentpoles with established lines, in tandem streamers load up the fall with fresh voices and mythic dread. On another front, horror’s indie wing is riding the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, 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 is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to 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.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller calendar year ahead: Sequels, new stories, in tandem with A jammed Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The current genre calendar loads immediately with a January glut, before it runs through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and well-timed offsets. Distributors with platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has grown into the surest move in annual schedules, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to leaders that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 held pace with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The momentum extended into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is space for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across companies, with mapped-out bands, a combination of brand names and novel angles, and a re-energized stance on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now functions as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can kick off on open real estate, yield a sharp concept for marketing and TikTok spots, and lead with demo groups that lean in on opening previews and return through the second weekend if the entry works. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects comfort in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and expand at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across unified worlds and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that suggests a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision weblink that links a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are favoring practical craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That pairing affords 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, angling it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking treatment without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign centered on brand visuals, early character teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to reprise odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel premium on a controlled budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand this contact form has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can stoke PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that amplifies both FOMO and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival deals, timing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects bring 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, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind 2026 horror hint at a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that teases the unease of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-supported 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 returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll 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 spreads, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the get redirected here conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.