Mythic Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, premiering October 2025 across top digital platforms

One terrifying paranormal scare-fest from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric force when newcomers become pawns in a demonic game. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense saga of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize the fear genre this spooky time. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody story follows five strangers who emerge stranded in a cut-off wooden structure under the dark sway of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be drawn in by a immersive event that integrates soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer appear from a different plane, but rather from within. This represents the grimmest layer of the group. The result is a relentless psychological battle where the conflict becomes a brutal battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote backcountry, five adults find themselves sealed under the unholy presence and domination of a obscure spirit. As the survivors becomes unresisting to escape her dominion, left alone and chased by unknowns ungraspable, they are required to battle their worst nightmares while the countdown mercilessly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and bonds dissolve, pushing each protagonist to challenge their essence and the notion of liberty itself. The consequences accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that combines spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken primitive panic, an evil beyond recorded history, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a evil that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure watchers worldwide can get immersed in this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this life-altering voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For previews, production insights, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule blends Mythic Possession, underground frights, alongside tentpole growls

Moving from survival horror infused with biblical myth and extending to installment follow-ups alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most stratified combined with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios stabilize the year with established lines, as streamers pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and legend-coded dread. In parallel, independent banners is drafting behind the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: 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 Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new genre year to come: follow-ups, new stories, And A brimming Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The new horror calendar crams right away with a January logjam, following that runs through June and July, and well into the December corridor, marrying franchise firepower, untold stories, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has established itself as the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that disciplined-budget entries can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers showed there is an opening for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a harmony of brand names and novel angles, and a tightened emphasis on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can open on virtually any date, supply a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and lead with demo groups that respond on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the feature pays off. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The slate kicks off with a loaded January block, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a September to October window that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also includes the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that connects a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a lively combination of known notes and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a memory-charged framework without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in iconic art, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will hunt general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling quick redirects to whatever tops the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the check over here initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects mix can feel elevated on a moderate cost. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror rush that maximizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping 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 locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium booking 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 continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the later window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate 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 tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to go wider. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror forecast a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 demanding boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that teases the terror of a child’s inconsistent POV. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. 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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, aural design, and image-making 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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, roll out exact trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.