Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An hair-raising paranormal scare-fest from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient curse when newcomers become conduits in a satanic contest. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of resistance and prehistoric entity that will redefine horror this October. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy motion picture follows five figures who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable wooden structure under the hostile grip of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a ancient ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a motion picture ride that integrates raw fear with ancient myths, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a enduring motif in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the forces no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the most terrifying version of all involved. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the intensity becomes a perpetual battle between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five adults find themselves stuck under the ghastly dominion and haunting of a shadowy entity. As the ensemble becomes helpless to combat her manipulation, severed and stalked by entities indescribable, they are cornered to stand before their greatest panics while the seconds unforgivingly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and relationships break, requiring each protagonist to challenge their existence and the structure of decision-making itself. The cost intensify with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel raw dread, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and challenging a being that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that turn is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing watchers anywhere can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has attracted over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this haunted exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these nightmarish insights about the soul.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s Turning Point: the year 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against IP aftershocks

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare rooted in mythic scripture and onward to legacy revivals and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned together with carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, as premium streamers load up the fall with discovery plays alongside primordial unease. On another front, independent banners is riding the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

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

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next chiller season: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The current genre year loads from the jump with a January glut, subsequently extends through summer, and running into the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, creative pitches, and shrewd calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are betting on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that transform these offerings into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has proven to be the consistent option in programming grids, a vertical that can surge when it lands and still mitigate the drawdown when it misses. After 2023 signaled to studio brass that lean-budget pictures can command the national conversation, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The run pushed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that scale internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the field, with clear date clusters, a pairing of established brands and fresh ideas, and a recommitted priority on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. The genre can kick off on many corridors, furnish a tight logline for trailers and vertical videos, and exceed norms with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the entry works. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration shows trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just mounting another continuation. They are aiming to frame lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that flags a new vibe or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That mix offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two spotlight plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking treatment without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that mixes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May this contact form while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are marketed as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror charge that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to secure select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. 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 hand in hand, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game 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 demanding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 residential haunting tale that filters its scares through a minor’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four click to read more is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lean-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 dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and framing 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.