Antediluvian Horror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, arriving October 2025 across top streamers

One eerie unearthly fear-driven tale from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric evil when foreigners become tools in a satanic struggle. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of resilience and archaic horror that will revolutionize scare flicks this cool-weather season. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie suspense flick follows five people who are stirred isolated in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a antiquated scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be gripped by a theatrical outing that unites gut-punch terror with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is challenged when the dark entities no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most primal layer of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the narrative becomes a brutal struggle between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five campers find themselves isolated under the fiendish aura and overtake of a shadowy figure. As the youths becomes vulnerable to oppose her grasp, severed and hunted by creatures impossible to understand, they are pushed to deal with their inner horrors while the time unforgivingly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and links fracture, driving each person to contemplate their self and the structure of self-determination itself. The consequences grow with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into raw dread, an spirit born of forgotten ages, manifesting in our weaknesses, and confronting a power that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing horror lovers around the globe can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has earned over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to a global viewership.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to uncover these haunting secrets about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror grounded in mythic scripture and stretching into IP renewals set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the richest and deliberate year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios bookend the months via recognizable brands, simultaneously premium streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives and scriptural shivers. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. 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, Buyer Ready

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

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming Horror cycle: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek The arriving scare season stacks from the jump with a January wave, subsequently flows through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, combining franchise firepower, creative pitches, and data-minded offsets. Studios and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that convert genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has established itself as the most reliable move in studio slates, a category that can accelerate when it breaks through and still cushion the floor when it stumbles. After the 2023 year showed decision-makers that cost-conscious genre plays can drive social chatter, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is a market for different modes, from legacy continuations to original features that play globally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and SVOD.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the grid. The genre can premiere on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that respond on first-look nights and sustain through the sophomore frame if the picture fires. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that setup. The slate opens with a thick January window, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that stretches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also reflects the tightening integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and scale up at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another installment. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that links a next entry to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That pairing yields 2026 a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive centered on heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that escalates into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that hybridizes companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a final title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror rush that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 obsessive craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video will mix library titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to drop and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Keep an eye on 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 in parallel, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward real, location-led 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 elevates creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into 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 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A this website man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic upends and mistrust rises. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting tale that teases the fear of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. 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: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, 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 surface detail, sonics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.