Ancient Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling thriller, landing October 2025 across top digital platforms

A chilling spiritual fright fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric entity when unfamiliar people become proxies in a fiendish trial. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct genre cinema this season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic suspense flick follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness isolated in a unreachable lodge under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure controlled by a legendary sacred-era entity. Be warned to be gripped by a cinematic ride that blends instinctive fear with timeless legends, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the forces no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from within. This echoes the deepest side of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a constant fight between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken natural abyss, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish dominion and possession of a elusive being. As the team becomes unable to escape her control, cut off and followed by powers inconceivable, they are made to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter harrowingly edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and alliances dissolve, forcing each soul to examine their identity and the concept of conscious will itself. The danger rise with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that combines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore ancestral fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, operating within soul-level flaws, and wrestling with a entity that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that evolution is shocking because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering households globally can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Witness this visceral voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to acknowledge these terrifying truths about free will.


For director insights, set experiences, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus American release plan integrates biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside tentpole growls

Ranging from survival horror rooted in primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the richest paired with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, at the same time streaming platforms front-load the fall with emerging auteurs set against legend-coded dread. At the same time, the independent cohort is carried on the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

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

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new scare year to come: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, plus A hectic Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The emerging scare cycle clusters in short order with a January traffic jam, and then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the festive period, weaving series momentum, fresh ideas, and shrewd calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that position horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has solidified as the bankable option in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it resonates and still limit the risk when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The carry carried into the 2025 frame, where returns and critical darlings showed there is a market for many shades, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of established brands and new pitches, and a revived emphasis on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, deliver a tight logline for creative and shorts, and exceed norms with patrons that lean in on Thursday previews and continue through the sophomore frame if the offering satisfies. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals trust in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a front-loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into Halloween and afterwards. The grid also underscores the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and classic IP. Big banners are not just rolling another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces 2026 a confident blend of known notes and invention, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick redirects to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that grows into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and brief clips that interlaces intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, on-set effects led approach can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is navigate here particularly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 clearer mandate to serve both fans and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. 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 haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Plan on 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 together, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films signal a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which fit with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner evolves into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and image-making 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.