Antediluvian Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on premium platforms

A spine-tingling spectral fright fest from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten force when guests become conduits in a demonic maze. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of endurance and primordial malevolence that will remodel scare flicks this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric feature follows five characters who wake up stranded in a off-grid shelter under the hostile will of Kyra, a central character controlled by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Be warned to be enthralled by a filmic outing that intertwines intense horror with folklore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer come from external sources, but rather from their core. This mirrors the malevolent corner of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between light and darkness.


In a barren terrain, five souls find themselves stuck under the fiendish presence and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the characters becomes submissive to oppose her curse, severed and chased by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are cornered to stand before their core terrors while the final hour mercilessly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and links fracture, pushing each soul to reflect on their personhood and the idea of independent thought itself. The pressure intensify with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into core terror, an power born of forgotten ages, feeding on our fears, and testing a darkness that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that households around the globe can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this mind-warping descent into hell. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to experience these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season American release plan weaves old-world possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with tentpole growls

Ranging from endurance-driven terror saturated with near-Eastern lore and extending to IP renewals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated as well as carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, as platform operators stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with mythic dread. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run 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, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
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 exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media 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. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next fright slate: installments, universe starters, as well as A jammed Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The current scare cycle stacks in short order with a January glut, thereafter extends through the summer months, and carrying into the holiday stretch, balancing brand equity, new voices, and well-timed alternatives. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that shape horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has become the dependable play in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still insulate the risk when it falls short. After 2023 showed studio brass that responsibly budgeted shockers can lead the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The momentum pushed into 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays proved there is an opening for a variety of tones, from series extensions to standalone ideas that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a spread of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused stance on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Buyers contend the horror lane now serves as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can open on virtually any date, supply a clear pitch for trailers and social clips, and exceed norms with patrons that line up on early shows and sustain through the second frame if the feature fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan indicates assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a weighty January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that runs into late October and beyond. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a refreshed voice or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short reels that hybridizes love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand 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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by historical precision and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival wins, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and framing as events releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping 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 sell is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. 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 survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. 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 shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to link the films through protagonists and motifs and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on click site December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that frames the panic through a kid’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 satirical comeback that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, 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, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct 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, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.