Age-old Horror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, landing October 2025 across global platforms

This bone-chilling unearthly scare-fest from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless force when passersby become victims in a demonic ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of endurance and mythic evil that will transform genre cinema this fall. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy motion picture follows five strangers who snap to ensnared in a remote lodge under the hostile command of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a millennia-old biblical force. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a big screen outing that combines intense horror with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the entities no longer develop outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the haunting facet of the protagonists. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a ongoing struggle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate natural abyss, five souls find themselves confined under the sinister sway and curse of a secretive figure. As the cast becomes defenseless to resist her rule, severed and chased by terrors mind-shattering, they are driven to encounter their emotional phantoms while the countdown without pause pushes forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and teams fracture, prompting each cast member to rethink their essence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure climb with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that blends demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel instinctual horror, an spirit rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a being that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the demon emerges, and that turn is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers around the globe can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this bone-rattling path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these haunting secrets about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses old-world possession, indie terrors, alongside brand-name tremors

From endurance-driven terror inspired by scriptural legend and onward to series comebacks as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios lay down anchors through proven series, in parallel digital services crowd the fall with fresh voices alongside old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is propelled by the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Myth turns 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 is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming chiller season: returning titles, non-franchise titles, plus A Crowded Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new genre year builds from day one with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through summer corridors, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that frame genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable tool in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it catches and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is room for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed emphasis on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the category now performs as a schedule utility on the slate. Horror can launch on virtually any date, deliver a clean hook for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on previews Thursday and stick through the next weekend if the film fires. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration reflects certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a thick January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The layout also reflects the increasing integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, generate chatter, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across connected story worlds and established properties. The players are not just making another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether this page that is a title presentation that signals a fresh attitude or a star attachment that reconnects a upcoming film to a initial period. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on hands-on technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay produces 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on signature symbols, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that escalates into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that threads affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are treated as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to saturate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast 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 leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track 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 clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. 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 in parallel, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

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 capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer 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 slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director 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 wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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 reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet 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 prickly boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that mediates the fear via a preteen’s volatile perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family snared by returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: my company A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout 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 respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundscape, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.