Primeval Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

A bone-chilling otherworldly scare-fest from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an ancient horror when outsiders become pawns in a supernatural ceremony. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize the fear genre this October. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie story follows five young adults who awaken confined in a hidden wooden structure under the aggressive power of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Get ready to be shaken by a narrative outing that weaves together soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the monsters no longer arise from an outside force, but rather internally. This illustrates the most hidden aspect of every character. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the drama becomes a constant fight between right and wrong.


In a forsaken wilderness, five teens find themselves caught under the malicious presence and haunting of a mysterious spirit. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to fight her rule, severed and chased by terrors unimaginable, they are compelled to stand before their core terrors while the final hour unceasingly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and connections collapse, forcing each person to contemplate their core and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The pressure mount with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore core terror, an evil before modern man, filtering through our weaknesses, and questioning a evil that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers no matter where they are can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these ghostly lessons about our species.


For featurettes, special features, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate braids together legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in primordial scripture all the way to series comebacks as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified paired with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, in tandem SVOD players crowd the fall with unboxed visions as well as old-world menace. In parallel, the artisan tier is carried on the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, 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.

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 overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. 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.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching fear lineup: installments, Originals, alongside A Crowded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The fresh horror cycle clusters in short order with a January cluster, subsequently runs through summer, and well into the festive period, blending name recognition, new voices, and smart counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are betting on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and short-form initiatives that pivot these pictures into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has turned into the sturdy play in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that disciplined-budget chillers can command the discourse, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and elevated films confirmed there is a lane for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a grid that shows rare alignment across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened eye on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with viewers that respond on advance nights and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the film works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that setup. The slate begins with a stacked January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a autumn push that reaches into Halloween and into early November. The schedule also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across shared universes and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another next film. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a roots-evoking angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from navigate to this website Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature effects, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries toward the drop and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision releases and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and image. 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 suggested a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without doldrums.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which work nicely for fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 household haunting story that explores the terror of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on modern genre fads and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family entangled with old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 exploit those windows. 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, 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 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, 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, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.