Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An spine-tingling unearthly suspense film from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless curse when unknowns become tokens in a fiendish ritual. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of living through and primeval wickedness that will alter terror storytelling this season. Brought to life by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who snap to isolated in a unreachable house under the sinister sway of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be captivated by a immersive presentation that combines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established foundation in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the spirits no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather deep within. This portrays the shadowy part of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the narrative becomes a relentless face-off between light and darkness.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves contained under the ghastly influence and control of a obscure figure. As the youths becomes paralyzed to deny her power, detached and pursued by forces beyond reason, they are pushed to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the countdown unceasingly ticks onward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and partnerships collapse, compelling each member to question their true nature and the idea of autonomy itself. The risk magnify with every second, delivering a horror experience that combines occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dig into primal fear, an threat rooted in antiquity, manifesting in mental cracks, and challenging a entity that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing users worldwide can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has received over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable descent into hell. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these haunting secrets about mankind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate melds biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, stacked beside series shake-ups

Spanning survival horror drawn from biblical myth and extending to installment follow-ups and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified along with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios set cornerstones using marquee IP, even as streaming platforms saturate the fall with discovery plays as well as scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring 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 winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, 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. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence 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 act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming spook season: entries, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The new terror season loads from day one with a January wave, after that flows through midyear, and running into the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are betting on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the dependable play in annual schedules, a corner that can accelerate when it performs and still mitigate the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that efficiently budgeted horror vehicles can command mainstream conversation, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects confirmed there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with strategic blocks, a spread of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the grid. Horror can debut on almost any weekend, deliver a quick sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with demo groups that show up on Thursday nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry hits. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence telegraphs conviction in that playbook. The calendar begins with a weighty January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a September to October window that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The grid also shows the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and widen at the timely point.

An added macro current is series management across shared universes and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on on-set craft, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two spotlight titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a classic-referencing campaign without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-form creative that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are treated as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor allows Universal to command 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a gnarly, on-set effects led style can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Look for a splatter summer horror surge that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and framing as events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and image. 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 flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps clarify the model. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with navigate here a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which align with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. Universal’s 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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 counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 tough boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 closed-door haunting story that threads the dread through a youth’s unsteady perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. More about the author Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.