Primordial Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

A blood-curdling spectral fear-driven tale from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial fear when unrelated individuals become tokens in a malevolent struggle. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of staying alive and mythic evil that will reimagine the fear genre this harvest season. Visualized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick screenplay follows five people who regain consciousness stranded in a hidden hideaway under the dark power of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a time-worn biblical demon. Brace yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based spectacle that harmonizes intense horror with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a long-standing theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the fiends no longer arise from external sources, but rather deep within. This marks the shadowy facet of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the drama becomes a intense battle between virtue and vice.


In a haunting backcountry, five characters find themselves marooned under the malevolent force and overtake of a enigmatic person. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to resist her power, isolated and pursued by powers ungraspable, they are compelled to battle their inner horrors while the final hour harrowingly winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and friendships collapse, pushing each figure to contemplate their character and the principle of conscious will itself. The pressure accelerate with every breath, delivering a frightening tale that merges otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover elemental fright, an curse before modern man, operating within psychological breaks, and examining a being that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is shocking because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers globally can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this gripping descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup braids together archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Spanning life-or-death fear saturated with ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured paired with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios are anchoring the year with established lines, concurrently digital services pack the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is carried on the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp opens the year with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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 night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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 staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

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

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next Horror season: continuations, Originals, alongside A busy Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The incoming terror calendar crams up front with a January wave, from there unfolds through the mid-year, and pushing into the December corridor, mixing franchise firepower, creative pitches, and data-minded counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has emerged as the steady play in distribution calendars, a category that can scale when it performs and still buffer the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded executives that efficiently budgeted genre plays can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The trend extended into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects made clear there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The end result for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened emphasis on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the genre now serves as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and outpace with demo groups that respond on Thursday previews and sustain through the week two if the movie delivers. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 pattern exhibits certainty in that approach. The slate opens with a crowded January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The schedule also underscores the deeper integration of specialized labels and streamers that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and grow at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is series management across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just producing another entry. They are looking to package connection with a occasion, whether that is a title design that announces a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that reconnects a latest entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That convergence affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two prominent titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a relay and a foundation-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a roots-evoking framework without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives 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 headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will build mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that hybridizes attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a blood-soaked, practical-first approach can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror charge that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around canon, and creature builds, elements that can boost premium format interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline 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 angle is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror 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 sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Watch for 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 in tandem, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set clarify the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations 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 pivot perspective and stretch the story. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

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

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting premise that threads the dread through a kid’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows great post to read 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 grain, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.