Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

An eerie otherworldly suspense story from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic malevolence when drifters become tokens in a malevolent maze. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of overcoming and prehistoric entity that will remodel fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody screenplay follows five figures who awaken locked in a remote wooden structure under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a antiquated holy text monster. Arm yourself to be captivated by a immersive presentation that integrates visceral dread with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the dark entities no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their core. This depicts the most sinister part of every character. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the conflict becomes a brutal struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren no-man's-land, five souls find themselves confined under the malevolent rule and overtake of a shadowy being. As the companions becomes defenseless to break her dominion, severed and pursued by creatures unimaginable, they are forced to encounter their inner demons while the moments unforgivingly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and relationships fracture, urging each person to scrutinize their personhood and the foundation of independent thought itself. The hazard surge with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that harmonizes paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into elemental fright, an malevolence from ancient eras, influencing our weaknesses, and examining a curse that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households anywhere can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to confront these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the official website.





Current horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar melds biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, alongside franchise surges

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by old testament echoes to canon extensions and surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned together with intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, in parallel digital services saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside mythic dread. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with 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. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by 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. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

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 burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, 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. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming chiller lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, and also A packed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The current scare cycle crowds from the jump with a January wave, after that unfolds through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has emerged as the steady lever in studio calendars, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed buyers that lean-budget shockers can dominate social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, create a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and outstrip with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and sustain through the second weekend if the entry works. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates certainty in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a thick January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and scale up at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are setting up lineage with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that flags a tonal shift or a casting move that bridges a upcoming film to a first wave. At the very same time, the directors behind the most watched originals are championing on-set craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a classic-referencing bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed 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 makes room for a title drop to become an event click site moment closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are branded as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and curated strips to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing 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 leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films forecast a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-game 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 severe boss work to survive on a isolated island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 intimate haunting chiller that filters its scares through a youngster’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. 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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially navigate here when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.