Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on global platforms

A blood-curdling paranormal terror film from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten evil when foreigners become puppets in a fiendish trial. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of continuance and old world terror that will transform horror this cool-weather season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive cinema piece follows five strangers who wake up trapped in a remote shelter under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Be prepared to be enthralled by a narrative spectacle that fuses bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the beings no longer manifest externally, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the most hidden shade of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the story becomes a unforgiving conflict between moral forces.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five teens find themselves caught under the sinister rule and domination of a shadowy woman. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to escape her grasp, cut off and tracked by presences mind-shattering, they are forced to face their core terrors while the seconds coldly counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and associations dissolve, coercing each participant to reflect on their existence and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The stakes mount with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that weaves together otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into elemental fright, an spirit beyond time, embedding itself in our fears, and challenging a presence that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that turn is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing subscribers no matter where they are can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has gathered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Enter *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with brand-name tremors

From survival horror saturated with primordial scripture through to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year with known properties, in tandem OTT services pack the fall with unboxed visions plus archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes 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. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these 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. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new fright calendar year ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The emerging terror cycle builds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and well into the December corridor, blending IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that low-to-mid budget scare machines can lead the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the market, with purposeful groupings, a combination of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused strategy on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a utility player on the schedule. Horror can roll out on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that line up on advance nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows faith in that setup. The year rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall cadence that stretches into All Hallows period and afterwards. The program also underscores the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and roll out at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another next film. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that conveys a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that threads a next film to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a roots-evoking bent without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to command 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shot that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium format interest and convention buzz.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by historical precision and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a tiered path that enhances both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception merits. Keep an eye on 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 in concert, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated 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 simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect 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 run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse 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 redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 collide with a shifting 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 struggle to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that leverages the fright of a child’s wobbly perceptions. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control 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 keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 imp source 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, 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 turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined 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, sound field, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent 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, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.