Age-old Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major platforms

An unnerving otherworldly scare-fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient dread when unfamiliar people become tools in a cursed ordeal. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of continuance and old world terror that will revolutionize scare flicks this spooky time. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric story follows five lost souls who find themselves sealed in a secluded cabin under the ominous grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be immersed by a cinematic ride that melds soul-chilling terror with spiritual backstory, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the monsters no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the haunting shade of the cast. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a brutal struggle between light and darkness.


In a desolate landscape, five souls find themselves caught under the possessive force and overtake of a elusive female presence. As the victims becomes submissive to deny her control, left alone and followed by terrors unfathomable, they are made to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown unforgivingly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and relationships collapse, compelling each cast member to challenge their essence and the foundation of conscious will itself. The tension mount with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that integrates unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover deep fear, an spirit beyond recorded history, influencing inner turmoil, and highlighting a evil that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing customers in all regions can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Join this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these spiritual awakenings about the mind.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate blends archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, in parallel with tentpole growls

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from mythic scripture and onward to installment follow-ups set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted together with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, in parallel OTT services front-load the fall with new perspectives as well as ancient terrors. On another front, indie storytellers is carried on the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

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

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The coming 2026 chiller cycle: follow-ups, standalone ideas, as well as A packed Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The fresh terror cycle builds from the jump with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and straight through the late-year period, balancing brand equity, untold stories, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that frame these films into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has solidified as the surest counterweight in release strategies, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that efficiently budgeted chillers can command the discourse, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The momentum carried into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and prestige plays made clear there is an opening for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a harmony of established brands and untested plays, and a recommitted stance on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now behaves like a utility player on the slate. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and sustain through the second weekend if the entry lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that engine. The slate begins with a busy January run, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to Halloween and into early November. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just mounting another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new tone or a casting move that anchors a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the top original plays are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a lively combination of trust and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a memory-charged angle without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are sold as event films, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven approach can feel elevated on a moderate cost. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around canon, and monster craft, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is glowing.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a pacing that elevates both debut momentum and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival buys, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and framing as events go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The news pitch is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is steady enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not stop a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New weblink Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then working 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 carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 bereaved man’s artificial companion escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-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 severe boss push to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic tilts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 not yet announced in official materials. More about the author Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that threads the dread through a young child’s wavering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 parody reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family tethered to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. 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 antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 lower and mid-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 maximize those pockets. 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.