Age-old Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

This chilling ghostly nightmare movie from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried horror when unknowns become conduits in a satanic contest. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of perseverance and mythic evil that will remodel horror this October. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic film follows five figures who wake up isolated in a off-grid cottage under the sinister power of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be seized by a immersive journey that melds primitive horror with ancient myths, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the forces no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most primal shade of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a ongoing contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a desolate forest, five souls find themselves stuck under the fiendish presence and overtake of a obscure entity. As the characters becomes unresisting to withstand her grasp, severed and chased by presences mind-shattering, they are driven to acknowledge their inner demons while the moments unceasingly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and partnerships implode, driving each protagonist to scrutinize their identity and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The risk rise with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into primal fear, an spirit from ancient eras, feeding on our fears, and questioning a will that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers globally can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For film updates, extra content, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts fuses primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, set against series shake-ups

Across survival horror infused with legendary theology through to brand-name continuations plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the richest in tandem with deliberate year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time subscription platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives as well as legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, independent banners is catching the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, 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.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study 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 moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new fright release year: follow-ups, Originals, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for screams

Dek The incoming terror cycle crowds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent lever in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it underperforms. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can open on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the movie hits. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a thick January window, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the fright window and into November. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just pushing another installment. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination yields 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a nostalgia-forward bent without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reignites 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 hook the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that turns into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second movies trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts 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 key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums 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 advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video pairs library titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, confirming horror entries closer to launch and staging as events arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating 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 offer is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern mix and image. 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 promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which favor convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that center hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch 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 shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that threads the dread through a minor’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized 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 surface detail, sound field, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.