Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an prehistoric nightmare when newcomers become victims in a hellish ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will revamp horror this season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody motion picture follows five unknowns who wake up sealed in a off-grid lodge under the aggressive sway of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be captivated by a immersive event that unites instinctive fear with mythic lore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the dark entities no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather inside them. This portrays the most sinister side of each of them. The result is a relentless mental war where the conflict becomes a intense tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken woodland, five youths find themselves isolated under the sinister force and control of a shadowy spirit. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to withstand her manipulation, exiled and pursued by terrors unfathomable, they are obligated to endure their soulful dreads while the hours mercilessly runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and ties implode, driving each survivor to examine their character and the structure of volition itself. The danger surge with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that merges otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into elemental fright, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, manifesting in emotional fractures, and highlighting a spirit that forces self-examination when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that shift is emotionally raw because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing households in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this visceral descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts blends old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Ranging from survivor-centric dread saturated with mythic scripture and extending to legacy revivals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted paired with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with familiar IP, at the same time subscription platforms front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and mythic dread. On the festival side, independent banners is drafting behind the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

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, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

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

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching genre cycle: returning titles, Originals, in tandem with A loaded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The incoming horror calendar crams right away with a January crush, after that extends through summer corridors, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, fresh ideas, and tactical offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that position genre titles into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has shown itself to be the dependable option in studio calendars, a corner that can surge when it breaks through and still safeguard the drag when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded greenlighters that lean-budget entries can command cultural conversation, the following year kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and prestige plays highlighted there is demand for different modes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived priority on release windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, provide a tight logline for spots and social clips, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on preview nights and maintain momentum through the week two if the title lands. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates belief in that logic. The year begins with a heavy January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The map also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is series management across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that flags a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a latest entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, practical effects and vivid settings. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of home base and surprise, which is the formula for Source international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a relay and a rootsy character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a heritage-honoring bent without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout rooted in iconic art, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that threads longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, in-camera leaning treatment can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach 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 directive to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that optimizes both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed films with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using featured rows, October hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival additions, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count 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+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries point to a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. 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 stiff, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play 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 run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to 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 heartbroken man’s virtual companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: navigate to this website TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that channels the fear through a youth’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. 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 disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: active. 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 language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 sleeper-hit hunt 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and picture 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 here see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.