Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising chiller, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A unnerving metaphysical horror tale from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric malevolence when unrelated individuals become subjects in a supernatural conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will remodel the fear genre this Halloween season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric feature follows five people who suddenly rise trapped in a isolated shack under the malevolent command of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a prehistoric biblical demon. Prepare to be shaken by a audio-visual presentation that combines bone-deep fear with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a recurring narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the spirits no longer descend from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the most primal part of the group. The result is a gripping moral showdown where the emotions becomes a merciless conflict between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving backcountry, five campers find themselves cornered under the malevolent presence and control of a unknown figure. As the youths becomes defenseless to evade her rule, abandoned and attacked by powers unimaginable, they are obligated to stand before their worst nightmares while the moments without pity ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and teams shatter, driving each survivor to doubt their self and the concept of decision-making itself. The stakes accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that intertwines otherworldly suspense with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke ancestral fear, an darkness beyond recorded history, manifesting in our fears, and examining a entity that tests the soul when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the evil takes hold, and that pivot is eerie because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing audiences no matter where they are can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these dark realities about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and news directly from production, follow @YACMovie across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, paired with franchise surges

Running from endurance-driven terror infused with legendary theology all the way to brand-name continuations together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the richest as well as tactically planned year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios set cornerstones with known properties, simultaneously streaming platforms stack the fall with emerging auteurs and primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. 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 each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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 is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 scare year to come: follow-ups, Originals, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The incoming horror calendar packs up front with a January wave, thereafter extends through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and well-timed alternatives. Distributors with platforms are committing to responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the most reliable lever in release plans, a segment that can break out when it lands and still hedge the risk when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that lean-budget chillers can command the discourse, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where resurrections and elevated films proved there is a lane for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and new packages, and a reinvigorated focus on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and digital services.

Executives say the space now slots in as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can roll out on open real estate, yield a sharp concept for ad units and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that engine. The slate kicks off with a heavy January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and roll out at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just rolling another next film. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a new tone or a cast configuration that threads a new installment to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are weblink leaning into on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a rootsy character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit creepy live activations and brief clips that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to lead 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using timely promos, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of precision releases and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with established auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not block a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

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

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win 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 run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 push to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that twists the dread of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a my company fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts weblink update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.