Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling otherworldly horror tale from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic force when unfamiliar people become instruments in a fiendish trial. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody tale follows five unknowns who snap to sealed in a unreachable hideaway under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a time-worn biblical force. Anticipate to be captivated by a motion picture adventure that fuses instinctive fear with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the spirits no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the haunting element of the players. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the narrative becomes a brutal confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a desolate backcountry, five adults find themselves isolated under the malevolent dominion and overtake of a unknown woman. As the victims becomes unable to escape her command, detached and hunted by creatures beyond comprehension, they are confronted to encounter their inner horrors while the doomsday meter coldly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and bonds splinter, forcing each participant to doubt their existence and the integrity of volition itself. The intensity intensify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that integrates unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into deep fear, an evil from ancient eras, working through emotional vulnerability, and navigating a darkness that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering households across the world can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, offering the tale to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this gripping fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 domestic schedule integrates primeval-possession lore, Indie Shockers, alongside returning-series thunder

Across last-stand terror grounded in scriptural legend and stretching into series comebacks set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses bookend the months by way of signature titles, while SVOD players crowd the fall with new voices set against primordial unease. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. 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. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner lot unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup 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.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. 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. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. 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 spook cycle: next chapters, fresh concepts, And A brimming Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The new scare year crowds at the outset with a January logjam, from there rolls through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, weaving legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and smart alternatives. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that position horror entries into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can break out when it hits and still mitigate the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that low-to-mid budget pictures can command the national conversation, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The trend translated to 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a market for different modes, from returning installments to non-IP projects that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the release plan. The genre can bow on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for teasers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with crowds that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates certainty in that model. The year commences with a crowded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and expand at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just pushing another next film. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout built on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the click to read more M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror charge that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video interleaves library titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. 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 positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception merits. Watch for 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 jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The operating solution is to pitch each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. 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, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not deter a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone see here Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. 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 loss-struck man’s AI companion turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting tale that twists the chill of a child’s tricky perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined eerie 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 spoof revival that teases current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 shock over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, 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 tactility, sound, and camera work 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, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.