Antediluvian Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

An eerie paranormal terror film from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless entity when outsiders become conduits in a satanic maze. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of overcoming and archaic horror that will revamp fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and immersive suspense flick follows five young adults who emerge caught in a remote shack under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a biblical-era biblical force. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a big screen experience that fuses intense horror with mystical narratives, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a long-standing pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the monsters no longer emerge from external sources, but rather inside them. This suggests the most sinister element of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the intensity becomes a relentless fight between moral forces.


In a haunting woodland, five individuals find themselves caught under the ominous dominion and domination of a shadowy being. As the characters becomes unable to resist her influence, severed and pursued by presences ungraspable, they are compelled to battle their inner horrors while the hours relentlessly ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and alliances splinter, urging each participant to scrutinize their existence and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The threat magnify with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon core terror, an presence from ancient eras, emerging via human fragility, and confronting a power that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant channeling something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing households globally can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling journey into fear. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For film updates, making-of footage, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across life-or-death fear inspired by near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted together with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, in parallel subscription platforms flood the fall with emerging auteurs plus primordial unease. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner opens the year with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a 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.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, 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.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. 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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 fright calendar year ahead: next chapters, original films, plus A Crowded Calendar designed for frights

Dek: The current terror year clusters in short order with a January crush, from there stretches through midyear, and running into the winter holidays, weaving brand heft, fresh ideas, and tactical alternatives. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable play in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can dominate social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a re-energized priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now works like a swing piece on the grid. Horror can premiere on many corridors, generate a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and over-index with moviegoers that show up on early shows and sustain through the week two if the release works. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates comfort in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that extends to the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also shows the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the proper time.

An added macro current is series management across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are seeking to position connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a memory-charged strategy without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and short-form creative that mixes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can drive large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival grabs, securing horror entries tight to release and making event-like premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline 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 direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Anticipate 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 boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo 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 moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

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

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 tough boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that teases the fear of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that needles modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for see here premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. 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 period language and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner 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 clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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, sound, and camera work 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.