Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling paranormal thriller from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval nightmare when strangers become pawns in a diabolical ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of resilience and mythic evil that will revamp terror storytelling this harvest season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie tale follows five young adults who are stirred ensnared in a wooded shelter under the sinister command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a time-worn religious nightmare. Be warned to be ensnared by a motion picture spectacle that fuses bodily fright with arcane tradition, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a long-standing pillar in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the forces no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This marks the most sinister corner of these individuals. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the events becomes a intense contest between virtue and vice.


In a remote landscape, five youths find themselves confined under the possessive influence and overtake of a enigmatic woman. As the group becomes powerless to evade her power, stranded and preyed upon by powers inconceivable, they are cornered to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch relentlessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and associations break, coercing each person to scrutinize their values and the idea of autonomy itself. The consequences mount with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover pure dread, an presence beyond recorded history, working through emotional fractures, and confronting a curse that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences from coast to coast can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside tentpole growls

Ranging from last-stand terror rooted in near-Eastern lore all the way to canon extensions in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified plus tactically planned year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while premium streamers stack the fall with fresh voices alongside scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller lineup: Sequels, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The upcoming genre calendar crams from day one with a January pile-up, from there unfolds through the warm months, and pushing into the December corridor, fusing franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and well-timed alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are committing to responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that position the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has grown into the sturdy play in programming grids, a category that can lift when it lands and still safeguard the risk when it does not. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that lean-budget genre plays can command the zeitgeist, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The tailwind carried into 2025, where revivals and awards-minded projects made clear there is capacity for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with crowds that line up on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release delivers. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that setup. The calendar opens with a weighty January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also underscores the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and widen at the timely point.

A companion trend is series management across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a first wave. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent titles that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave built on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate odd public stunts and micro spots that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror charge that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach 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 charge to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and creature effects, elements that can amplify large-format demand 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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that boosts both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video will mix third-party pickups with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on the horror have a peek at these guys cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries tight to release and making event-like premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern mix 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 hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-date move from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and widen scale. 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 lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week get redirected here later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that toys with the terror of a child’s unreliable interpretations. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated 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 premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize 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 delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and camera work 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.