Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

An hair-raising ghostly fright fest from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become tokens in a cursed conflict. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of continuance and ancient evil that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric screenplay follows five young adults who snap to locked in a cut-off house under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a legendary holy text monster. Ready yourself to be immersed by a theatrical presentation that blends soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the spirits no longer arise outside the characters, but rather from their core. This depicts the most primal dimension of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the events becomes a intense contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving forest, five adults find themselves confined under the ghastly force and inhabitation of a unknown spirit. As the survivors becomes unresisting to break her power, stranded and preyed upon by presences mind-shattering, they are obligated to confront their core terrors while the seconds harrowingly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and links erode, requiring each cast member to reconsider their values and the idea of autonomy itself. The consequences accelerate with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into deep fear, an spirit beyond time, working through inner turmoil, and highlighting a power that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers in all regions can witness this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has attracted over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Witness this haunted fall into madness. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these terrifying truths about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule blends archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror steeped in primordial scripture as well as brand-name continuations and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted paired with deliberate year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios lay down anchors with established lines, in parallel OTT services crowd the fall with new perspectives plus primordial unease. In parallel, the artisan tier is riding the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed 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 night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. 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 entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, 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 Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare year to come: follow-ups, new stories, And A brimming Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The incoming terror season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, after that flows through midyear, and carrying into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterweight. The major players are focusing on smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious shockers can dominate audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films made clear there is a market for different modes, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now performs as a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can debut on a wide range of weekends, supply a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with patrons that arrive on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the entry delivers. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan demonstrates comfort in that equation. The calendar starts with a busy January run, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a October build that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The grid also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces click to read more a heritage-honoring campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are sold as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global 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 consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that enhances both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of precision releases and prompt platform moves 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 genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded 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 wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Watch for 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 jointly, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. 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, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 back-to-back, allows marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate point to a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons 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 serious, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using 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 using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion shifts 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes 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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that manipulates the chill of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame 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 VFX sequences, 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 beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 breakout hunt 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, 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 texture, audio design, and cinematography 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.

A Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.