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

A bone-chilling supernatural nightmare movie from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried curse when strangers become tools in a hellish maze. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of endurance and mythic evil that will remodel genre cinema this season. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who suddenly rise isolated in a wooded hideaway under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a timeless biblical force. Be prepared to be hooked by a visual outing that combines raw fear with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the spirits no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the malevolent shade of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the plotline becomes a relentless push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a isolated natural abyss, five teens find themselves sealed under the dark aura and overtake of a mysterious female presence. As the group becomes paralyzed to evade her command, exiled and stalked by terrors unnamable, they are compelled to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter ruthlessly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and bonds dissolve, compelling each cast member to question their existence and the philosophy of freedom of choice itself. The consequences mount with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that combines occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel elemental fright, an evil before modern man, working through inner turmoil, and testing a entity that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences from coast to coast can witness this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts melds Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, set against series shake-ups

Moving from survivor-centric dread grounded in ancient scripture as well as IP renewals set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses stabilize the year using marquee IP, in tandem subscription platforms load up the fall with discovery plays plus legend-coded dread. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

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 heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: 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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming genre season: continuations, original films, and also A loaded Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek The upcoming genre season builds up front with a January bottleneck, following that unfolds through June and July, and carrying into the holiday frame, marrying legacy muscle, untold stories, and tactical calendar placement. Studios and platforms are embracing smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that pivot the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has grown into the steady release in annual schedules, a category that can expand when it performs and still hedge the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year showed greenlighters that lean-budget pictures can galvanize the national conversation, 2024 carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The momentum flowed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles showed there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to original one-offs that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of brand names and new pitches, and a reinvigorated focus on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and platforms.

Marketers add the space now functions as a wildcard on the schedule. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for creative and social clips, and over-index with audiences that line up on early shows and stay strong through the next weekend if the offering lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that model. The year launches with a loaded January window, then taps spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a October build that reaches into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The calendar also illustrates the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across linked properties and established properties. The studios are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That mix offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a roots-evoking approach without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps clarify the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which match well with expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: atmospheric 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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 premise that routes the horror through a youth’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. 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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall 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 favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, 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 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.