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

This hair-raising unearthly nightmare movie from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval nightmare when strangers become proxies in a demonic contest. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of resilience and primordial malevolence that will transform horror this Halloween season. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric thriller follows five characters who awaken stranded in a isolated dwelling under the hostile command of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be shaken by a audio-visual outing that harmonizes deep-seated panic with legendary tales, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the entities no longer develop from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the grimmest corner of the protagonists. The result is a intense inner struggle where the conflict becomes a merciless push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren natural abyss, five campers find themselves stuck under the malicious grip and overtake of a mysterious entity. As the characters becomes incapacitated to reject her command, marooned and stalked by evils unimaginable, they are thrust to deal with their inner demons while the time without pause runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and teams disintegrate, prompting each soul to question their existence and the foundation of free will itself. The tension escalate with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel primal fear, an entity older than civilization itself, working through inner turmoil, and examining a curse that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that flip is haunting because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing customers from coast to coast can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its intro video, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Make sure to see this life-altering journey into fear. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these unholy truths about mankind.


For previews, extra content, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate integrates old-world possession, signature indie scares, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture and stretching into canon extensions set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured paired with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, simultaneously SVOD players prime the fall with unboxed visions set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is riding the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell and starring 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 joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. 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
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next genre cycle: follow-ups, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar Built For frights

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle clusters in short order with a January cluster, subsequently flows through summer, and straight through the December corridor, combining franchise firepower, original angles, and strategic counterplay. Studios with streamers are focusing on efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that transform horror entries into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the surest lever in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to leaders that mid-range shockers can own pop culture, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry extended into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films showed there is a market for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a blend of marquee IP and original hooks, and a revived focus on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and streaming.

Insiders argue the space now serves as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can open on open real estate, create a simple premise for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outpace with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the entry delivers. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that model. The calendar commences with a heavy January block, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall corridor that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also shows the deeper integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another entry. They are seeking to position connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a casting pivot that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short reels that fuses companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are positioned as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and expand the canvas. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with expo activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can scale in the check over here first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. 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 sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that filters its scares through a little one’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by past horrors. 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: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 value-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, and framing 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 in place. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.