Ancient Darkness Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

This terrifying supernatural fright fest from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic malevolence when passersby become vehicles in a malevolent conflict. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will transform horror this cool-weather season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy fearfest follows five strangers who find themselves trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the malignant control of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be captivated by a cinematic ride that combines raw fear with ancestral stories, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the spirits no longer originate from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This marks the shadowy side of all involved. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the drama becomes a intense push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a isolated forest, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly influence and infestation of a secretive entity. As the survivors becomes submissive to oppose her grasp, abandoned and tracked by terrors inconceivable, they are driven to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the clock without pity draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and connections erode, urging each individual to evaluate their self and the principle of independent thought itself. The hazard amplify with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that connects spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken elemental fright, an presence born of forgotten ages, feeding on soul-level flaws, and challenging a evil that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the invasion happens, and that transition is shocking because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering horror lovers from coast to coast can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this unforgettable fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these unholy truths about mankind.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar integrates primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from endurance-driven terror suffused with primordial scripture as well as returning series paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured as well as carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios hold down the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers prime the fall with new voices together with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving 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. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

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.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

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

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming chiller slate: entries, universe starters, alongside A jammed Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek: The fresh horror slate lines up in short order with a January logjam, and then stretches through summer, and carrying into the late-year period, combining brand heft, untold stories, and strategic offsets. Studios and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that convert these releases into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has shown itself to be the dependable move in release plans, a space that can grow when it lands and still cushion the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught leaders that disciplined-budget shockers can command audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from series extensions to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The aggregate for 2026 is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with planned clusters, a pairing of known properties and fresh ideas, and a sharpened eye on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Planners observe the horror lane now performs as a swing piece on the rollout map. The genre can bow on numerous frames, offer a easy sell for promo reels and short-form placements, and lead with demo groups that lean in on early shows and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the title hits. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence indicates trust in that dynamic. The year launches with a loaded January window, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a October build that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. Studios are not just pushing another sequel. They are looking to package ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a talent selection that ties a next film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of home base and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a memory-charged strategy without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that mixes attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are presented as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 mission to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that boosts both FOMO and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, confirming horror entries closer to drop and framing as events go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps outline the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but my review here the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s virtual companion shifts into something dangerously intimate. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that routes the horror through a little one’s uneven point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led ghost thriller.

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 satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in horror 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts have a peek here often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-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. Anticipate a robust 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.