Antediluvian Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across global platforms

An blood-curdling metaphysical fright fest from scriptwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic malevolence when drifters become pawns in a hellish ordeal. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of staying alive and mythic evil that will remodel terror storytelling this Halloween season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic feature follows five lost souls who snap to stuck in a cut-off cottage under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be immersed by a visual event that intertwines bodily fright with mythic lore, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the beings no longer appear from an outside force, but rather from their core. This echoes the deepest element of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing conflict between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving woodland, five souls find themselves confined under the unholy effect and domination of a unknown female presence. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to combat her will, detached and tracked by unknowns unnamable, they are thrust to battle their worst nightmares while the clock unforgivingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and alliances collapse, compelling each individual to doubt their essence and the idea of liberty itself. The cost accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke instinctual horror, an force beyond recorded history, operating within emotional fractures, and dealing with a darkness that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that evolution is terrifying because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households worldwide can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has attracted over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Experience this mind-warping path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these terrifying truths about the mind.


For featurettes, set experiences, and promotions directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes legend-infused possession, underground frights, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with ancient scripture and including series comebacks in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated as well as blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners lay down anchors with familiar IP, even as premium streamers prime the fall with unboxed visions and primordial unease. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket 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. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: returning titles, universe starters, plus A busy Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek: The current genre slate lines up immediately with a January crush, and then stretches through the summer months, and continuing into the holiday stretch, fusing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studios and streamers are relying on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that position genre titles into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has grown into the predictable tool in annual schedules, a vertical that can break out when it breaks through and still safeguard the drawdown when it misses. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that efficiently budgeted shockers can galvanize social chatter, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that play globally. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across players, with clear date clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and new concepts, and a renewed eye on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Executives say the horror lane now acts as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can launch on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with fans that line up on preview nights and continue through the week two if the entry works. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a September to October window that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The program also spotlights the continuing integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another installment. They are trying to present lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That combination hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and invention, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a legacy-leaning bent without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will foreground. As a summer relief option, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever tops horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that shifts into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to iterate on odd public stunts and snackable content that fuses affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are set up as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, October hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sonics and picture. 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 positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Do not be surprised by 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 jointly, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and have a peek at these guys an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set outline the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a day-date move from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tonal variety ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes 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 production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating 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 closed-door haunting tale that teases the horror of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

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 satirizes modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action More about the author fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, 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 materiality, audio design, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.