Mythic Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

This blood-curdling ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient curse when passersby become subjects in a supernatural contest. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of resilience and ancient evil that will reimagine the fear genre this scare season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick tale follows five figures who suddenly rise sealed in a off-grid cottage under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a two-thousand-year-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be drawn in by a filmic event that intertwines visceral dread with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is turned on its head when the demons no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather deep within. This illustrates the malevolent shade of the cast. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a unyielding struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five friends find themselves contained under the evil influence and infestation of a unknown person. As the cast becomes helpless to escape her rule, cut off and tormented by spirits unfathomable, they are driven to stand before their darkest emotions while the moments unceasingly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread amplifies and friendships shatter, pushing each individual to rethink their being and the integrity of volition itself. The hazard intensify with every tick, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore deep fear, an evil older than civilization itself, emerging via our weaknesses, and dealing with a evil that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that evolution is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that streamers no matter where they are can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this haunted path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these unholy truths about free will.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and press updates via the production team, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup Mixes biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, and returning-series thunder

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from scriptural legend and including returning series together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most variegated as well as tactically planned year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streamers pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancestral chills. On another front, the artisan tier is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp starts the year with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the WB camp rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 clever angle. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new chiller slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming genre calendar stacks from day one with a January cluster, from there unfolds through peak season, and well into the winter holidays, fusing marquee clout, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that shape horror entries into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a category that can lift when it performs and still insulate the risk when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that low-to-mid budget entries can drive pop culture, the following year kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The upswing flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a market for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a sharpened commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can open on open real estate, provide a clean hook for ad units and TikTok spots, and outperform with moviegoers that appear on Thursday previews and sustain through the second frame if the title delivers. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 pattern signals conviction in that model. The year begins with a weighty January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The calendar also features the expanded integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The studios are not just turning out another sequel. They are aiming to frame continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit odd public stunts and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that leans into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around canon, and creature builds, elements that can lift premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror driven by minute detail and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries near their drops and making event-like go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to widen. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries point to a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month winds down 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 formidable, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie 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 confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 work to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that pipes the unease through a youth’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven this page supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan bound to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings weblink 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural my company 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.