Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient evil when newcomers become proxies in a dark struggle. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of continuance and forgotten curse that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this October. Realized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic cinema piece follows five people who awaken confined in a wilderness-bound house under the menacing will of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a theatrical adventure that merges bodily fright with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the spirits no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most primal facet of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a brutal contest between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five adults find themselves sealed under the malevolent control and overtake of a mysterious female figure. As the group becomes incapable to break her power, abandoned and hunted by creatures mind-shattering, they are obligated to battle their worst nightmares while the seconds unceasingly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and links splinter, demanding each member to examine their identity and the integrity of independent thought itself. The consequences magnify with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that blends otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore core terror, an evil beyond recorded history, filtering through mental cracks, and examining a presence that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering subscribers internationally can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Tune in for this mind-warping fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these unholy truths about the soul.


For film updates, production insights, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror inspired by legendary theology and onward to series comebacks paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the richest as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, while premium streamers load up the fall with fresh voices alongside mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming scare release year: installments, filmmaker-first projects, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek The brand-new genre slate crams up front with a January wave, from there flows through the warm months, and running into the festive period, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are embracing right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has solidified as the consistent lever in studio calendars, a category that can surge when it lands and still mitigate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles confirmed there is a lane for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed priority on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now functions as a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on most weekends, furnish a tight logline for spots and reels, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on first-look nights and stick through the week two if the offering lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores comfort in that engine. The slate begins with a weighty January run, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also shows the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, practical effects and grounded locations. That combination yields 2026 a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward approach without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with iconic art, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio Get More Info sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, on-set effects led method can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate 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 promise is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 menace, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 closed-door haunting piece that filters its scares through a minor’s wavering point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family bound to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. 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 period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase 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 pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. 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 at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.