Mythic Terror Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

One terrifying ghostly suspense film from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic malevolence when outsiders become proxies in a satanic conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of perseverance and forgotten curse that will reshape the horror genre this fall. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and immersive screenplay follows five teens who find themselves trapped in a far-off lodge under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a theatrical journey that fuses instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the forces no longer arise externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the most sinister part of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the drama becomes a unforgiving clash between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken forest, five youths find themselves isolated under the evil control and curse of a shadowy spirit. As the cast becomes incapacitated to escape her power, marooned and preyed upon by terrors unimaginable, they are forced to stand before their core terrors while the final hour brutally strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and relationships splinter, requiring each cast member to question their identity and the foundation of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every fleeting time, delivering a horror experience that blends unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to uncover ancestral fear, an evil born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through our weaknesses, and exposing a spirit that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring subscribers no matter where they are can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to witness these terrifying truths about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. calendar blends myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Ranging from survival horror rooted in primordial scripture and including legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex together with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios stabilize the year with established lines, while OTT services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is carried on the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. 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 foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and 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. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting 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

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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



The upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, together with A packed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The arriving genre calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, then carries through summer, and running into the holiday frame, braiding name recognition, creative pitches, and savvy counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has turned into the steady lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still safeguard the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for buyers that responsibly budgeted fright engines can steer the zeitgeist, 2024 kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings confirmed there is appetite for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend 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 category now behaves like a utility player on the schedule. The genre can kick off on many corridors, furnish a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and outperform with audiences that appear on Thursday previews and keep coming through the second frame if the film works. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 configuration telegraphs belief in that model. The slate launches with a thick January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also highlights the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just rolling another next film. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a new tone or a cast configuration that threads a next entry to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, grief-rooted, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that hybridizes companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are sold as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven method can feel premium on a lean spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can drive premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that fortifies both week-one demand and sub growth in the downstream. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready 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 in tandem, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps illuminate the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not block a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films hint at a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged 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 cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month caps 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 range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner grows into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: More about the author Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 residential haunting premise that threads the dread through a little one’s unreliable perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and celebrity-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan entangled with old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. 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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The get redirected here Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.