Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An spine-tingling unearthly suspense film from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric terror when drifters become subjects in a diabolical game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving journey of continuance and ancient evil that will redefine the horror genre this scare season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric suspense flick follows five strangers who awaken stranded in a secluded shelter under the dark grip of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Get ready to be immersed by a motion picture journey that integrates primitive horror with timeless legends, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the demons no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather from within. This mirrors the deepest facet of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the conflict becomes a brutal contest between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five adults find themselves caught under the sinister sway and control of a unknown person. As the companions becomes helpless to withstand her dominion, isolated and tracked by presences inconceivable, they are pushed to acknowledge their inner horrors while the timeline unceasingly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and teams erode, demanding each person to contemplate their being and the idea of personal agency itself. The tension intensify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into pure dread, an threat beyond recorded history, influencing soul-level flaws, and testing a being that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences anywhere can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this visceral exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these terrifying truths about inner darkness.


For director insights, production insights, and social posts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate integrates myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, and legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with survival horror inspired by scriptural legend and including installment follow-ups paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most stratified paired with calculated campaign year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners are anchoring the year with known properties, even as premium streamers load up the fall with emerging auteurs set against mythic dread. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. 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 Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. 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 tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear release year: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The new scare cycle builds right away with a January wave, thereafter extends through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, combining IP strength, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. The major players are leaning into smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the predictable lever in distribution calendars, a lane that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget scare machines can shape the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers proved there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived attention on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can roll out on most weekends, provide a quick sell for creative and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with ticket buyers that respond on early shows and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping demonstrates conviction in that engine. The slate opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that pushes into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The calendar also reflects the greater integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and grow at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a talent selection that links a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence delivers 2026 a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a roots-evoking bent without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date places it at the click to read more front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and brief clips that hybridizes love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered approach can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

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 maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by minute detail and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which play well in expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: gothic-game 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 remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that interrogates the terror of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody reboot that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family linked to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter 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 beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The breakout hunt 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, 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 visual texture, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.