Antediluvian Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling chiller, landing October 2025 across major platforms

An bone-chilling ghostly horror tale from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old dread when strangers become pawns in a hellish contest. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of living through and mythic evil that will reconstruct scare flicks this cool-weather season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic story follows five young adults who regain consciousness stuck in a secluded dwelling under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a female lead dominated by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Be warned to be gripped by a audio-visual outing that blends soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the spirits no longer appear externally, but rather from within. This portrays the most primal corner of each of them. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the story becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between purity and corruption.


In a remote wilderness, five figures find themselves isolated under the fiendish dominion and overtake of a shadowy entity. As the youths becomes powerless to fight her control, stranded and attacked by terrors unfathomable, they are cornered to encounter their inner horrors while the doomsday meter without pause moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and teams collapse, requiring each character to evaluate their essence and the principle of conscious will itself. The intensity magnify with every breath, delivering a horror experience that intertwines unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore elemental fright, an darkness that predates humanity, filtering through our fears, and challenging a entity that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure watchers around the globe can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping journey into fear. Stream *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. release slate fuses old-world possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survivor-centric dread infused with legendary theology and extending to franchise returns paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers saturate the fall with unboxed visions and archetypal fear. On the festival side, independent banners is catching the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
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 Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: returning titles, original films, as well as A Crowded Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek The incoming horror cycle loads in short order with a January glut, after that carries through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, balancing series momentum, inventive spins, and savvy counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that pivot these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has established itself as the consistent swing in studio lineups, a genre that can expand when it connects and still protect the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded executives that modestly budgeted fright engines can own the discourse, 2024 carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across distributors, with planned clusters, a harmony of household franchises and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now operates like a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, create a grabby hook for promo reels and shorts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that turn out on opening previews and stick through the next pass if the title hits. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that model. The year starts with a thick January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that stretches into Halloween and past the holiday. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and widen at the inflection point.

An added macro current is series management across unified worlds and established properties. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are favoring practical craft, real effects and distinct locales. That combination produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate releases that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware angle without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, early character teases, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that mutates into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that hybridizes devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven treatment can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in play 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 the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on immersive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival snaps, timing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to board select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, retooled for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which match well with convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes click to read more that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that plays with the fright of a child’s fragile perceptions. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked 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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 dark-horse hit 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 see here indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.