Primordial Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An eerie ghostly suspense film from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried dread when guests become tokens in a demonic ceremony. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense narrative of survival and mythic evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this Halloween season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy thriller follows five individuals who regain consciousness ensnared in a wooded cottage under the ominous control of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a legendary holy text monster. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a filmic venture that weaves together deep-seated panic with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the entities no longer originate outside the characters, but rather inside them. This depicts the most terrifying layer of the victims. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a brutal clash between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned wilderness, five souls find themselves trapped under the fiendish sway and haunting of a elusive character. As the group becomes paralyzed to combat her command, severed and attacked by entities ungraspable, they are forced to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the hours relentlessly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and links disintegrate, pressuring each character to doubt their identity and the principle of conscious will itself. The hazard mount with every breath, delivering a terror ride that connects paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon core terror, an spirit rooted in antiquity, filtering through emotional fractures, and highlighting a being that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that shift is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans across the world can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has collected over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these chilling revelations about our species.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with last-stand terror steeped in biblical myth and extending to IP renewals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors stabilize the year via recognizable brands, in tandem streamers pack the fall with fresh voices alongside scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, independent banners is riding the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

the Universal camp starts the year with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 next Horror slate: Sequels, standalone ideas, And A busy Calendar designed for chills

Dek The brand-new terror year packs from day one with a January pile-up, after that carries through summer, and far into the winter holidays, weaving brand heft, fresh ideas, and smart alternatives. The big buyers and platforms are embracing smart costs, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has emerged as the predictable option in release plans, a pillar that can accelerate when it catches and still protect the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget shockers can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived eye on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the genre now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can bow on most weekends, supply a simple premise for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and stick through the week two if the feature pays off. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup reflects assurance in that model. The calendar rolls out with a thick January window, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while holding room for a autumn push that reaches into the Halloween corridor and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and widen at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is IP cultivation across linked properties and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are moving to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a news typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that anchors a latest entry to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into physical effects work, real effects and specific settings. That blend hands the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a memory-charged campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are marketed as director events, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to take 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror blast that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around canon, and creature work, elements that can stoke premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that fortifies both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and eventizing drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of precision releases and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building 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 appeal is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind these films signal a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious 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 shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 family-home haunting piece that leverages the fright of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for 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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family linked to past horrors. Rating: TBD. 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: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and camera work 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.