Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient dread, a nightmare fueled feature, launching October 2025 across major streaming services

One blood-curdling supernatural fright fest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric fear when unfamiliar people become conduits in a fiendish ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of overcoming and archaic horror that will reshape terror storytelling this harvest season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and tone-heavy motion picture follows five teens who arise imprisoned in a secluded dwelling under the aggressive will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Be warned to be drawn in by a visual ride that blends instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the demons no longer manifest from external sources, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the grimmest version of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a ongoing battle between right and wrong.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five characters find themselves marooned under the dark grip and grasp of a haunted person. As the protagonists becomes unable to resist her dominion, cut off and attacked by unknowns indescribable, they are obligated to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the final hour relentlessly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and connections implode, pressuring each protagonist to scrutinize their essence and the notion of decision-making itself. The pressure mount with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that marries otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken basic terror, an spirit older than civilization itself, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a will that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that customers no matter where they are can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and reveals from the creators, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle American release plan Mixes biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from scriptural legend and onward to IP renewals and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned combined with deliberate year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, even as digital services crowd the fall with discovery plays together with ancestral chills. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is surfing the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. 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, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, 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. 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fright season: entries, standalone ideas, plus A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The upcoming genre season clusters from day one with a January pile-up, before it spreads through June and July, and well into the holidays, braiding series momentum, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has become the steady lever in annual schedules, a vertical that can lift when it resonates and still safeguard the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 proved to studio brass that mid-range shockers can own the discourse, the following year kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The upswing flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is a market for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of legacy names and untested plays, and a tightened emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Marketers add the space now performs as a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can bow on most weekends, offer a simple premise for promo reels and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with fans that appear on Thursday nights and return through the second frame if the offering pays off. Coming out of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence exhibits belief in that model. The slate rolls out with a stacked January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while making space for a fall corridor that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The players are not just greenlighting another return. They are working to present lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a new vibe or a casting pivot that anchors a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing practical craft, on-set effects and vivid settings. That alloy offers 2026 a lively combination of assurance and invention, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a throwback-friendly treatment without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign stacked with classic imagery, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an machine companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that melds longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots 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 makes room for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, on-set effects led approach can feel premium on a controlled budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a reset 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 mission to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, scheduling horror useful reference entries near their drops and making event-like releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is grounded enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps announce the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 marquee brands. The month finishes 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 credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives 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 feeds 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet 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 scramble to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that explores the unease of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and star-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll 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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. 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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a get redirected here weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use 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 stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 surprise over-performer 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.