Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

This terrifying occult suspense film from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten nightmare when outsiders become victims in a satanic conflict. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of survival and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct scare flicks this harvest season. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody feature follows five strangers who regain consciousness locked in a hidden shelter under the dark sway of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a big screen journey that unites bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is inverted when the entities no longer form beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the shadowy side of the cast. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the story becomes a constant battle between heaven and hell.


In a isolated terrain, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly dominion and spiritual invasion of a mysterious being. As the youths becomes incapacitated to deny her command, isolated and targeted by unknowns ungraspable, they are thrust to endure their inner horrors while the final hour without pause runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and teams dissolve, requiring each cast member to scrutinize their self and the principle of personal agency itself. The intensity climb with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that marries spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken elemental fright, an entity beyond time, manifesting in inner turmoil, and highlighting a power that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households anywhere can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this unforgettable journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For featurettes, special features, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season American release plan Mixes Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, paired with tentpole growls

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from mythic scripture and onward to franchise returns plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the richest plus tactically planned year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, in parallel streamers front-load the fall with discovery plays as well as scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, independent banners is riding the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, 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 those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to 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. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming fear Year Ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The new genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through June and July, and carrying into the year-end corridor, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that shape these releases into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has turned into the sturdy tool in release strategies, a lane that can surge when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can own mainstream conversation, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from returning installments to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and untested plays, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, furnish a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and over-index with audiences that lean in on opening previews and stick through the second weekend if the entry delivers. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates certainty in that model. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January run, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and heritage properties. The studios are not just pushing another installment. They are moving to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that signals a re-angled tone or a lead change that anchors a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tight, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an virtual partner that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay uncanny live moments and quick hits that threads companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date offers Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led mix can feel premium on a controlled budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that expands both week-one demand and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and making event-like arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern audio and picture. 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 telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Be ready 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 together, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to link the films through character and theme and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta see here recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month caps 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 stiff, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that plays with the chill of a child’s wobbly perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled this content Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked 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: TBA. Production: advancing. 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 period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a imp source repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, 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 dimensionality, aural design, and cinematography 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.