Ancient Malevolence surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An blood-curdling paranormal suspense story from literary architect / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric fear when unrelated individuals become conduits in a malevolent conflict. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of struggle and old world terror that will reshape scare flicks this fall. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and cinematic suspense flick follows five strangers who arise sealed in a hidden lodge under the aggressive power of Kyra, a young woman dominated by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be seized by a cinematic venture that combines soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the monsters no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the shadowy facet of the cast. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the drama becomes a unforgiving battle between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five friends find themselves confined under the ominous dominion and inhabitation of a shadowy female figure. As the team becomes paralyzed to reject her will, left alone and preyed upon by forces ungraspable, they are confronted to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the moments brutally winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and ties break, requiring each member to doubt their being and the notion of conscious will itself. The threat climb with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses unearthly horror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon primal fear, an force before modern man, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and highlighting a spirit that peels away humanity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that shift is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers across the world can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Join this unforgettable descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these chilling revelations about human nature.


For teasers, production news, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season domestic schedule Mixes biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with legendary theology and extending to IP renewals as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the richest as well as calculated campaign year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, at the same time premium streamers pack the fall with debut heat together with mythic dread. On the festival side, the art-house flank is drafting behind the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new scare season: follow-ups, universe starters, plus A stacked Calendar geared toward frights

Dek: The emerging horror year crams from day one with a January cluster, before it runs through the mid-year, and carrying into the holidays, weaving legacy muscle, new voices, and data-minded calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are relying on mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that turn these releases into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The field has turned into the consistent release in release plans, a space that can expand when it clicks and still mitigate the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year showed leaders that responsibly budgeted shockers can shape pop culture, the following year continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and festival-grade titles showed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with planned clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated stance on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and home platforms.

Planners observe the space now behaves like a utility player on the grid. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, supply a sharp concept for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with patrons that turn out on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second frame if the picture works. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits confidence in that dynamic. The year launches with a thick January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a October build that carries into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the expanded integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is brand management across linked properties and veteran brands. Studios are not just pushing another follow-up. They are seeking to position continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that signals a new vibe or a casting move that ties a new entry to a heyday. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring physical effects work, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That mix yields the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a nostalgia-forward treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected centered on signature symbols, first images of characters, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will hunt broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever dominates the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror strange in-person beats and micro spots that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a raw, practical-first treatment can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling 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 focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can fuel premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and period speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves library titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has helped 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 commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which play well in booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes 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 formidable, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating 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 pipes the unease through a minor’s shifting personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and celebrity-led spirit-world 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 spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family lashed to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, 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 optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 disciplined-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, sound, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver get redirected here 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.