Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

An frightening metaphysical suspense story from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic curse when outsiders become puppets in a malevolent ordeal. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of resistance and old world terror that will revamp horror this October. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic fearfest follows five teens who emerge stuck in a wooded structure under the malignant will of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be immersed by a immersive spectacle that weaves together visceral dread with legendary tales, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring narrative in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the beings no longer develop from external sources, but rather from within. This echoes the haunting facet of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the story becomes a perpetual face-off between right and wrong.


In a barren no-man's-land, five figures find themselves stuck under the fiendish sway and inhabitation of a unidentified apparition. As the characters becomes unresisting to resist her manipulation, severed and hunted by creatures beyond comprehension, they are required to face their greatest panics while the seconds unforgivingly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension grows and ties collapse, demanding each participant to doubt their character and the integrity of personal agency itself. The consequences escalate with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken primal fear, an entity from prehistory, emerging via human fragility, and highlighting a being that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering watchers worldwide can enjoy this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, production insights, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 season domestic schedule integrates archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, and IP aftershocks

Beginning with survivor-centric dread grounded in mythic scripture and stretching into legacy revivals together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio majors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, concurrently digital services flood the fall with new perspectives together with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next scare slate: entries, universe starters, in tandem with A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The emerging horror calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, then runs through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, fusing IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are embracing right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has turned into the most reliable move in studio calendars, a genre that can scale when it lands and still hedge the exposure when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that modestly budgeted chillers can command social chatter, the following year sustained momentum with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays underscored there is demand for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to original features that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can open on nearly any frame, supply a grabby hook for previews and TikTok spots, and outpace with ticket buyers that show up on first-look nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the entry hits. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping exhibits confidence in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall corridor that carries into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and go nationwide at the strategic time.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just turning out another next film. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That mix gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with brand visuals, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working 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 official title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The distributor has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind this year’s genre point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific check over here craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which align with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit 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 finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that have a peek here stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding 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 sorrowing man’s AI companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the control balance reverses and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 renewed vision 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 closed-door haunting premise that explores the panic of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-financed and star-fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.