Ancient Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on major streaming services

An blood-curdling paranormal fright fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial curse when unrelated individuals become subjects in a dark struggle. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of resilience and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct the horror genre this ghoul season. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody cinema piece follows five lost souls who arise ensnared in a secluded dwelling under the aggressive will of Kyra, a central character dominated by a biblical-era biblical demon. Ready yourself to be gripped by a cinematic venture that harmonizes gut-punch terror with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is challenged when the forces no longer form from a different plane, but rather from within. This marks the shadowy facet of the group. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the emotions becomes a constant contest between heaven and hell.


In a barren outland, five adults find themselves caught under the ominous dominion and infestation of a enigmatic being. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to withstand her grasp, abandoned and followed by evils unfathomable, they are required to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the clock brutally counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and relationships break, compelling each member to scrutinize their true nature and the principle of self-determination itself. The cost climb with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke core terror, an darkness beyond time, influencing inner turmoil, and highlighting a power that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is eerie because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers worldwide can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this gripping descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup weaves biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by old testament echoes and extending to returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, simultaneously platform operators prime the fall with discovery plays in concert with primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare year to come: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The arriving terror season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, before it spreads through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the predictable swing in studio slates, a category that can scale when it hits and still protect the drawdown when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year demonstrated to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from continued chapters to director-led originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with defined corridors, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and digital services.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, offer a simple premise for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with crowds that respond on first-look nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the movie pays off. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration signals certainty in that engine. The slate opens with a weighty January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a late-year stretch that extends to Halloween and into early November. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, create conversation, and roll out at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just turning out another follow-up. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that flags a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a new installment to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That blend provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward mode without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with signature symbols, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to dominate 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that enhances both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, October hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival snaps, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The risk, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens weblink 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, 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. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, 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 satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 fight to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that interrogates the dread of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. 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: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 get redirected here sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. 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 stealth-hit search 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, 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 runs hard, 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 chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.