Mythic Dread Returns in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling chiller, arriving October 2025 across major platforms

An frightening occult terror film from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried evil when unknowns become puppets in a devilish experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of continuance and age-old darkness that will reshape fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic screenplay follows five teens who are stirred ensnared in a hidden lodge under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a central character dominated by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a immersive event that melds bodily fright with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reimagined when the demons no longer form from an outside force, but rather internally. This echoes the most primal corner of the players. The result is a intense internal warfare where the conflict becomes a unforgiving conflict between innocence and sin.


In a haunting woodland, five souls find themselves contained under the dark aura and control of a elusive female figure. As the companions becomes unresisting to escape her manipulation, abandoned and tracked by spirits beyond comprehension, they are compelled to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the moments harrowingly counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and links disintegrate, urging each member to challenge their true nature and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost climb with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into basic terror, an threat before modern man, influencing our fears, and questioning a being that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers everywhere can enjoy this horror showcase.


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 six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this haunted exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, underground frights, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from biblical myth to series comebacks set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified and precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners stabilize the year by way of signature titles, while subscription platforms pack the fall with fresh voices alongside legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is fueled by the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. 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, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

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

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: 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, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 scare year to come: brand plays, universe starters, together with A packed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The brand-new horror year clusters early with a January glut, before it runs through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and smart offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that transform these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable lever in studio calendars, a corner that can spike when it lands and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reminded executives that disciplined-budget entries can shape pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The head of steam rolled into 2025, where resurrections and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a combination of household franchises and new pitches, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the calendar. Horror can bow on many corridors, offer a grabby hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the next weekend if the release hits. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern exhibits certainty in that logic. The year launches with a crowded January block, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a autumn stretch that stretches into the fright window and into early November. The layout also includes the expanded integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and roll out at the proper time.

Another broad trend is brand curation across linked properties and long-running brands. The studios are not just releasing another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting choice that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That alloy yields 2026 a confident blend of trust and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a handoff and a rootsy character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning campaign without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on classic imagery, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will build wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that mixes longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are positioned as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Expect a splatter summer horror jolt that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero 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 mission to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around narrative world, and creature work, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances library titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

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 pitch is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or Check This Out October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set frame the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and grow scope. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers atmosphere and fear rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to 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 sorrowing man’s virtual companion grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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: Lensed back-to-back 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a young child’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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 time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 underdog chase 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 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 set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.