Mythic Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A hair-raising occult terror film from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric terror when foreigners become tokens in a dark maze. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize scare flicks this Halloween season. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie screenplay follows five unknowns who wake up locked in a cut-off shelter under the hostile will of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Prepare to be captivated by a immersive event that combines deep-seated panic with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a iconic concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the presences no longer originate outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This symbolizes the haunting corner of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the events becomes a constant contest between right and wrong.


In a bleak forest, five adults find themselves trapped under the dark effect and grasp of a obscure woman. As the ensemble becomes defenseless to deny her command, isolated and preyed upon by unknowns impossible to understand, they are required to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the hours harrowingly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and associations splinter, demanding each cast member to reconsider their character and the principle of liberty itself. The intensity grow with every fleeting time, delivering a terror ride that intertwines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into ancestral fear, an darkness older than civilization itself, working through fragile psyche, and confronting a curse that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers around the globe can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this haunted voyage through terror. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these haunting secrets about existence.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 domestic schedule interlaces biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, and IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from ancient scripture through to series comebacks as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, in tandem platform operators saturate the fall with new voices plus old-world menace. On the festival side, independent banners is riding the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new chiller slate: continuations, fresh concepts, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The emerging terror cycle builds from the jump with a January pile-up, after that spreads through peak season, and deep into the holidays, braiding name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable swing in studio slates, a genre that can scale when it resonates and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that mid-range genre plays can galvanize social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles confirmed there is room for many shades, from series extensions to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, furnish a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and outperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and stick through the week two if the movie fires. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a weighty January run, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a fall cadence that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The map also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just turning out another installment. They are working to present lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into on-set craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of known notes and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two spotlight bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a fan-service aware framework without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will build mainstream recognition through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward execution can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror charge that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach 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 focus to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video pairs licensed content with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, slotting horror entries near launch and framing as events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of precision releases and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Be ready for 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 together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did my company not foreclose a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which align with booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a remote island as the control balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that filters its scares through a child’s shifting POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars navigate to this website expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visual design 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.