Primeval Dread Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

One haunting unearthly terror film from creator / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial force when foreigners become pawns in a hellish maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of struggle and ancient evil that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy motion picture follows five strangers who come to imprisoned in a isolated shack under the sinister sway of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a visual venture that harmonizes deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the spirits no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This marks the deepest part of the cast. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the drama becomes a brutal fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak woodland, five youths find themselves stuck under the fiendish control and possession of a secretive person. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to deny her rule, marooned and preyed upon by entities unnamable, they are compelled to deal with their inner horrors while the time brutally edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and links shatter, coercing each participant to doubt their character and the notion of personal agency itself. The cost grow with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly suspense with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover primal fear, an spirit rooted in antiquity, operating within human fragility, and challenging a spirit that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that transition is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers no matter where they are can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these dark realities about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, and series shake-ups

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture through to series comebacks together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured along with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time OTT services front-load the fall with emerging auteurs and old-world menace. On another front, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

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

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

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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



The approaching Horror year to come: Sequels, universe starters, alongside A loaded Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek The incoming genre cycle loads from the jump with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and far into the winter holidays, blending IP strength, original angles, and data-minded counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that position genre titles into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has shown itself to be the consistent move in studio slates, a lane that can surge when it hits and still hedge the losses when it stumbles. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that modestly budgeted genre plays can command audience talk, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where reboots and arthouse crossovers underscored there is capacity for different modes, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that export nicely. The end result for 2026 is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the market, with intentional bunching, a harmony of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated attention on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on paid VOD and digital services.

Buyers contend the category now slots in as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on many corridors, yield a tight logline for previews and short-form placements, and punch above weight with moviegoers that arrive on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the title delivers. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm shows assurance in that engine. The slate launches with a busy January run, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a fall corridor that reaches into the fright window and past Halloween. The layout also shows the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and scale up at the timely point.

A second macro trend is series management across unified worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a new installment to a classic era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and novelty, which is a recipe click to read more that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run centered on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that hybridizes devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are treated as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart 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 charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to secure select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which are ideal for expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down 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 credible, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July horror 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 residential haunting setup that explores the fear of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. 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 primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror great post to read will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, and picture 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.