Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

An haunting unearthly shockfest from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric fear when newcomers become proxies in a supernatural trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of perseverance and ancient evil that will redefine the horror genre this spooky time. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric tale follows five characters who find themselves ensnared in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the hostile command of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be captivated by a screen-based experience that integrates bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the fiends no longer arise from beyond, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most hidden version of the group. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between right and wrong.


In a abandoned forest, five adults find themselves sealed under the evil dominion and spiritual invasion of a secretive figure. As the ensemble becomes submissive to deny her command, stranded and stalked by forces ungraspable, they are obligated to endure their inner horrors while the countdown without pause draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia grows and bonds splinter, demanding each character to question their essence and the nature of self-determination itself. The tension climb with every instant, delivering a horror experience that intertwines otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore core terror, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a being that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers from coast to coast can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Witness this bone-rattling fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For film updates, extra content, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with returning-series thunder

Beginning with endurance-driven terror saturated with legendary theology as well as franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while SVOD players load up the fall with new voices as well as ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. 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.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be 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

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next Horror slate: Sequels, universe starters, And A jammed Calendar Built For frights

Dek: The current horror cycle crams immediately with a January cluster, subsequently flows through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, combining marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are committing to tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that shape these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has established itself as the consistent tool in release plans, a corner that can scale when it connects and still buffer the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 showed decision-makers that lean-budget horror vehicles can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles proved there is a market for different modes, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now slots in as a flex slot on the programming map. The genre can roll out on most weekends, supply a quick sell for promo reels and TikTok spots, and over-index with ticket buyers that show up on first-look nights and keep coming through the week two if the picture satisfies. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout shows certainty in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a fall run that runs into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just pushing another installment. They are working to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a new tone or a talent selection that binds a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are returning to in-camera technique, physical gags and vivid settings. That mix gives 2026 a confident blend of trust and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a nostalgia-forward mode without recycling the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push rooted in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal this content has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs affection 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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart 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 charge to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival wins, locking in horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and elevate scope. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 stiff, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the control balance shifts and paranoia creeps in. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that channels the fear through a young child’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: 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 long-buried horrors. 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: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double 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, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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 wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions 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 favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.