Primeval Dread Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

This spine-tingling unearthly shockfest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten malevolence when unknowns become puppets in a diabolical trial. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful account of perseverance and ancient evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this fall. Realized by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic story follows five teens who arise sealed in a hidden wooden structure under the aggressive command of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a millennia-old biblical demon. Anticipate to be enthralled by a screen-based ride that integrates deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the fiends no longer develop externally, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most hidden shade of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a brutal face-off between heaven and hell.


In a isolated woodland, five souls find themselves isolated under the ominous dominion and haunting of a haunted spirit. As the victims becomes incapacitated to oppose her command, detached and stalked by entities unfathomable, they are forced to deal with their worst nightmares while the deathwatch relentlessly ticks toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and bonds dissolve, prompting each person to question their existence and the principle of self-determination itself. The danger escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into raw dread, an presence from prehistory, channeling itself through emotional vulnerability, and questioning a presence that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has received over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, production news, and alerts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces Mythic Possession, indie terrors, and IP aftershocks

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured as well as blueprinted year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors set cornerstones through proven series, as SVOD players load up the fall with new perspectives and scriptural shivers. At the same time, festival-forward creators is fueled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
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.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals 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.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming chiller cycle: entries, original films, alongside A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar loads in short order with a January bottleneck, after that stretches through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, mixing brand heft, original angles, and tactical alternatives. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that pivot genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has turned into the steady lever in release plans, a category that can break out when it catches and still safeguard the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that disciplined-budget pictures can drive mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing fed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films proved there is an opening for a spectrum, from returning installments to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a roster that is strikingly coherent across players, with clear date clusters, a combination of marquee IP and new concepts, and a recommitted commitment on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and subscription services.

Studio leaders note the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, yield a clean hook for trailers and TikTok spots, and lead with audiences that arrive on early shows and return through the second frame if the offering delivers. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence reflects belief in that dynamic. The calendar opens with a heavy January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that carries into spooky season and into the next week. The grid also underscores the tightening integration of specialty distributors and home platforms that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and widen at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that announces a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and vivid settings. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a heritage-honoring framework without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with legacy iconography, early character teases, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an digital partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on odd public stunts and quick hits that mixes romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward approach can feel big on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that emphasizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a reset 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 loyalists and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build marketing units around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can increase format premiums and convention buzz.

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 advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and period speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that optimizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival buys, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping 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 setup is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set make sense of the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind the year’s horror suggest a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that elevates mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers 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 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s useful reference hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy 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 rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 claw to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 household haunting premise that interrogates the fear of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, click site fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 search for sleepers 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, optimized 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 detail, aural design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.