Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked thriller, premiering October 2025 across premium platforms

A spine-tingling spectral fright fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic horror when drifters become puppets in a fiendish ordeal. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving episode of endurance and timeless dread that will reshape scare flicks this scare season. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and atmospheric screenplay follows five people who emerge imprisoned in a far-off hideaway under the hostile rule of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Anticipate to be immersed by a theatrical adventure that intertwines instinctive fear with arcane tradition, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is twisted when the beings no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the most sinister version of the players. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the intensity becomes a constant tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a bleak terrain, five youths find themselves marooned under the dark sway and domination of a shadowy apparition. As the team becomes helpless to fight her command, abandoned and tormented by creatures impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their deepest fears while the timeline without pity draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and partnerships break, forcing each protagonist to doubt their values and the idea of conscious will itself. The consequences rise with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into raw dread, an spirit that predates humanity, filtering through our fears, and questioning a spirit that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that transition is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences globally can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to a global viewership.


Join this soul-jarring descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these unholy truths about free will.


For featurettes, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts melds primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, together with tentpole growls

Kicking off with last-stand terror inspired by primordial scripture as well as returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with franchise anchors, at the same time SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays set against old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is propelled by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm fires the first shot with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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



The approaching chiller release year: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A busy Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The brand-new horror season stacks at the outset with a January traffic jam, following that extends through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent tool in release plans, a category that can grow when it performs and still cushion the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that low-to-mid budget entries can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The trend flowed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays showed there is space for different modes, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across the field, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new concepts, and a tightened priority on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium video on demand and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the grid. Horror can arrive on almost any weekend, deliver a grabby hook for promo reels and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on preview nights and keep coming through the second frame if the offering hits. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects faith in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while saving space for a fall cadence that pushes into spooky season and past the holiday. The schedule also features the increasing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and broaden at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just making another continuation. They are aiming to frame lineage with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a lead change that threads a upcoming film to a early run. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That blend produces 2026 a smart balance of home base and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two prominent entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a roots-evoking framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign rooted in franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that fuses devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using curated hubs, October hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline 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 setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals have a peek here if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to move out. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 as a pair, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. 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, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 shot back-to-back, lets marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind this slate suggest a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which play well in con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

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

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that channels the fear through a kid’s shifting subjective view. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 reboot that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. 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 raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets have a peek here blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.