Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

A hair-raising metaphysical shockfest from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an ancient terror when unknowns become victims in a hellish ordeal. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of continuance and primeval wickedness that will reimagine horror this spooky time. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody motion picture follows five lost souls who arise caught in a unreachable hideaway under the ominous rule of Kyra, a female lead possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a screen-based experience that harmonizes bodily fright with folklore, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer descend externally, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the darkest version of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal moral showdown where the suspense becomes a constant confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken woodland, five individuals find themselves caught under the ghastly aura and possession of a haunted female figure. As the youths becomes helpless to withstand her influence, severed and hunted by unknowns inconceivable, they are required to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the time harrowingly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and bonds implode, prompting each participant to doubt their character and the idea of free will itself. The tension intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel basic terror, an curse rooted in antiquity, emerging via inner turmoil, and testing a power that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that change is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that customers around the globe can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s sea change: the year 2025 American release plan braids together ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with endurance-driven terror drawn from old testament echoes and stretching into returning series set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors bookend the months with franchise anchors, as streamers load up the fall with fresh voices plus mythic dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is carried on the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with 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 fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by 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 project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. 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. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next fright year to come: Sequels, standalone ideas, in tandem with A packed Calendar calibrated for jolts

Dek The brand-new genre year lines up from day one with a January bottleneck, thereafter rolls through the summer months, and carrying into the holiday stretch, braiding brand equity, creative pitches, and strategic alternatives. Studios and streamers are betting on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that transform these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has proven to be the predictable counterweight in release plans, a vertical that can scale when it catches and still insulate the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year signaled to top brass that efficiently budgeted shockers can steer audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The tailwind extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is a lane for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to original features that travel well. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a tightened stance on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the grid. The genre can premiere on open real estate, yield a sharp concept for ad units and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture fires. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates belief in that setup. The year gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and widen at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a star attachment that threads a next entry to a first wave. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into tactile craft, real effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing produces 2026 a smart balance of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a heritage-honoring framework without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. A campaign is expected anchored in franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan hitting 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is elegant, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise uncanny live moments and short reels that threads love and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as 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 sets up a title drop to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are sold as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around universe detail, and creature click to read more builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast 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 screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand this content in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps outline the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 filmed in sequence, permits marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft horror journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s synthetic partner escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 abrasive boss push to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia creeps in. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that threads the dread through a youngster’s wavering personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and name-above-title occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an international 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: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 chase 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 sampler, 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 goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and cinematography 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.