Ancient Darkness Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This bone-chilling metaphysical thriller from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic horror when unrelated individuals become proxies in a satanic game. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of resilience and primordial malevolence that will alter scare flicks this scare season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic screenplay follows five strangers who are stirred locked in a unreachable wooden structure under the hostile rule of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a two-thousand-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be immersed by a immersive spectacle that melds gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the demons no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the haunting version of the group. The result is a enthralling mind game where the tension becomes a relentless fight between right and wrong.


In a remote natural abyss, five young people find themselves contained under the malevolent rule and curse of a obscure spirit. As the characters becomes vulnerable to withstand her dominion, marooned and pursued by powers beyond comprehension, they are compelled to face their core terrors while the moments brutally ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and alliances disintegrate, coercing each person to scrutinize their essence and the idea of liberty itself. The danger climb with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that combines ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract primal fear, an curse before modern man, operating within emotional vulnerability, and navigating a will that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that turn is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that users in all regions can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this life-altering journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. release slate blends Mythic Possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Running from endurance-driven terror saturated with primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, even as platform operators saturate the fall with new voices plus primordial unease. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is buoyed by the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 spook calendar year ahead: Sequels, fresh concepts, And A loaded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle loads immediately with a January pile-up, following that spreads through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, mixing series momentum, creative pitches, and shrewd counterplay. Distributors with platforms are embracing efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that elevate genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can spike when it lands and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can own social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles underscored there is a lane for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original one-offs that carry overseas. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the market, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a renewed focus on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now operates like a plug-and-play option on the grid. The genre can bow on virtually any date, offer a quick sell for marketing and reels, and over-index with ticket buyers that turn out on Thursday nights and stick through the second weekend if the release fires. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects trust in that model. The slate starts with a loaded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is franchise tending across shared universes and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just releasing another next film. They are trying to present continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that announces a new tone or a casting move that binds a upcoming film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to hands-on technique, on-set effects and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a heritage-honoring campaign without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as 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 branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a raw, physical-effects centered strategy can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror shot that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using prominent placements, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival pickups, securing horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Watch for 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 in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not block a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which align with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 domestic haunting piece that routes the horror through a child’s volatile point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and star-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Anticipate a robust 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 rhythm and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele this contact form event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and visuals 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 Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.