Mythic Dread Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

A bone-chilling supernatural fear-driven tale from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried curse when strangers become conduits in a supernatural conflict. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of staying alive and old world terror that will revamp fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy cinema piece follows five teens who awaken confined in a isolated house under the oppressive power of Kyra, a central character occupied by a legendary ancient fiend. Be prepared to be ensnared by a motion picture journey that weaves together bodily fright with folklore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the beings no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the most primal layer of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the conflict becomes a merciless push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving wild, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish force and curse of a elusive woman. As the group becomes helpless to reject her control, left alone and pursued by evils ungraspable, they are thrust to battle their soulful dreads while the moments brutally moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and alliances collapse, demanding each protagonist to evaluate their character and the foundation of autonomy itself. The cost amplify with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon instinctual horror, an curse that existed before mankind, manifesting in inner turmoil, and examining a being that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households in all regions can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this haunted descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these evil-rooted truths about existence.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar melds biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, plus IP aftershocks

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in ancient scripture through to franchise returns as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios hold down the year with established lines, in tandem OTT services front-load the fall with discovery plays and scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is carried on the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner starts the year with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, the WB camp unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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 bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching spook lineup: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A brimming Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The incoming horror season lines up from day one with a January bottleneck, after that spreads through summer corridors, and running into the festive period, blending legacy muscle, original angles, and data-minded counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that transform these films into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has proven to be the surest counterweight in programming grids, a pillar that can grow when it hits and still insulate the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that cost-conscious entries can steer the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The upswing extended into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with planned clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and platforms.

Planners observe the genre now operates like a schedule utility on the release plan. The genre can launch on a wide range of weekends, furnish a tight logline for previews and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on advance nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate kicks off with a crowded January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and beyond. The grid also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a re-angled tone or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a heritage-honoring approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push leaning on recognizable motifs, character previews, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that becomes a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that mixes attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to maximize 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using timely promos, genre hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries tight to release and coalescing around drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes 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 formidable, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed imp source by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and 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 ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss push to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that teases the horror of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-supported and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

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 satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 unexpected breakout of the year, More about the author and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural Source IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined 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 texture, sound, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.