Primeval Evil Surfaces in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across top digital platforms

An blood-curdling otherworldly scare-fest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic fear when unknowns become pawns in a supernatural conflict. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of endurance and age-old darkness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and tone-heavy motion picture follows five teens who come to stuck in a secluded house under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a millennia-old biblical force. Ready yourself to be shaken by a narrative presentation that melds soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the dark entities no longer develop beyond the self, but rather inside them. This represents the shadowy dimension of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the narrative becomes a perpetual clash between good and evil.


In a forsaken wild, five characters find themselves cornered under the sinister influence and haunting of a obscure entity. As the victims becomes incapacitated to escape her grasp, stranded and attacked by beings indescribable, they are obligated to battle their inner demons while the time unforgivingly ticks toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and links break, coercing each figure to reconsider their existence and the idea of free will itself. The cost escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into primal fear, an force from ancient eras, operating within psychological breaks, and testing a will that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure watchers no matter where they are can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this unforgettable spiral into evil. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, extra content, and announcements via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our film’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup fuses biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Running from last-stand terror suffused with biblical myth and stretching into IP renewals paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated and carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, simultaneously subscription platforms crowd the fall with debut heat in concert with scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is drafting behind the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for 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 adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: 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. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

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

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Brands: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new fear year to come: installments, new stories, as well as A busy Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks immediately with a January glut, subsequently extends through midyear, and carrying into the holiday frame, combining franchise firepower, creative pitches, and data-minded release strategy. Studios and streamers are betting on lean spends, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that shape genre titles into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has established itself as the most reliable swing in distribution calendars, a genre that can accelerate when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that lean-budget genre plays can steer pop culture, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of legacy names and new packages, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the category now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. Horror can open on open real estate, create a grabby hook for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with crowds that respond on opening previews and sustain through the follow-up frame if the movie hits. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan signals comfort in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a thick January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that extends to Halloween and into the next week. The layout also reflects the increasing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and broaden at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across unified worlds and classic IP. Big banners are not just mounting another next film. They are trying to present story carry-over with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that binds a new entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating physical effects work, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That alloy produces 2026 a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a roots-evoking bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on classic imagery, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate uncanny live moments and brief clips that threads love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels 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 official title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are set up as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a fresh 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 clearer mandate to serve both players and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that fortifies both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video balances acquired titles with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 positioned a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking great post to read R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. 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 credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Anticipate 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 as partners, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. 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 real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 work to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that refracts terror through a kid’s shifting point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family linked to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits 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.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search 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 work 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and Check This Out June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, 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 dimensionality, audio design, 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.