Age-old Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An unnerving mystic suspense film from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial nightmare when passersby become conduits in a demonic conflict. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense depiction of overcoming and age-old darkness that will reimagine horror this ghoul season. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who arise ensnared in a secluded wooden structure under the oppressive rule of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a legendary scriptural evil. Anticipate to be hooked by a big screen ride that merges instinctive fear with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a enduring tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the beings no longer descend outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This portrays the deepest corner of these individuals. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the intensity becomes a merciless confrontation between right and wrong.


In a barren no-man's-land, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the unholy grip and inhabitation of a unidentified figure. As the companions becomes incapacitated to evade her will, isolated and chased by presences beyond reason, they are confronted to stand before their darkest emotions while the hours brutally pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and alliances splinter, demanding each survivor to question their true nature and the principle of independent thought itself. The cost escalate with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends mystical fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to evoke primal fear, an threat that existed before mankind, manipulating human fragility, and challenging a will that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering watchers anywhere can enjoy this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Witness this visceral exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these nightmarish insights about our species.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and news from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate fuses Mythic Possession, underground frights, set against legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from life-or-death fear saturated with ancient scripture through to brand-name continuations paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, in tandem SVOD players stack the fall with new perspectives alongside primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the uplift from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored 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. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, the WB camp unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. 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 staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fright year to come: continuations, non-franchise titles, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for screams

Dek The incoming horror calendar stacks from the jump with a January wave, and then spreads through the summer months, and continuing into the festive period, blending IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest move in annual schedules, a corner that can break out when it connects and still protect the drawdown when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that cost-conscious chillers can galvanize audience talk, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with viewers that respond on opening previews and keep coming through the next pass if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping indicates certainty in that model. The year commences with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. The companies are not just making another next film. They are seeking to position connection with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a new installment to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is positioning as 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 sharper mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both launch urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, locking in horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. 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 in tandem, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. 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 brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August check over here and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: atmospheric 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that threads the dread through a youth’s uneven perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently click site beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, 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 grain, soundscape, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.