Antediluvian Horror surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An haunting occult suspense film from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval terror when strangers become pawns in a devilish maze. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of resistance and ancient evil that will remodel horror this harvest season. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric thriller follows five people who snap to ensnared in a hidden shack under the sinister will of Kyra, a central character occupied by a biblical-era sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be immersed by a visual venture that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather from within. This embodies the most primal facet of the protagonists. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the events becomes a intense contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak natural abyss, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the sinister force and inhabitation of a enigmatic spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to combat her power, cut off and targeted by forces mind-shattering, they are forced to deal with their deepest fears while the final hour unforgivingly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and relationships dissolve, pushing each protagonist to challenge their essence and the notion of liberty itself. The tension mount with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into elemental fright, an darkness beyond recorded history, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and dealing with a presence that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers across the world can enjoy this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this gripping ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts melds legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture as well as franchise returns plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated together with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses set cornerstones using marquee IP, while OTT services front-load the fall with new voices in concert with primordial unease. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is surfing the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal opens the year with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to 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. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next scare calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh genre calendar packs in short order with a January bottleneck, and then carries through summer, and straight through the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has become the predictable move in studio calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can own cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is appetite for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and untested plays, and a revived eye on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now operates like a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, deliver a tight logline for creative and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with ticket buyers that show up on early shows and sustain through the next weekend if the release lands. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup shows trust in that equation. The year gets underway with a weighty January run, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a October build that reaches into Halloween and afterwards. The grid also features the tightening integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and move wide at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating practical craft, makeup and prosthetics and place-driven backdrops. That pairing produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a handoff and a rootsy character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly strategy without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that hybridizes intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read 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 leaves room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are marketed as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a reimagined restart 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 charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 defined by immersive craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs 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 turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway 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 clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and Source fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Expect 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 in parallel, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns outline the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 shot in tandem, lets marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

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

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 heftier brand moves. 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 real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run 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 unyielding boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the control balance shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that threads the dread through a child’s unsteady subjective view. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly 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 skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 disciplined-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.