Age-old Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across premium platforms

One frightening unearthly fear-driven tale from author / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old horror when newcomers become instruments in a fiendish trial. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of survival and archaic horror that will transform scare flicks this autumn. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic thriller follows five individuals who awaken ensnared in a remote house under the ominous grip of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be gripped by a audio-visual experience that fuses deep-seated panic with biblical origins, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a well-established motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the entities no longer develop externally, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the malevolent side of the players. The result is a emotionally raw cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a constant confrontation between moral forces.


In a haunting outland, five adults find themselves cornered under the evil influence and spiritual invasion of a unidentified apparition. As the cast becomes unresisting to fight her dominion, isolated and stalked by evils unimaginable, they are confronted to encounter their core terrors while the clock brutally draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and relationships erode, urging each individual to challenge their being and the integrity of conscious will itself. The risk magnify with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that integrates otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore raw dread, an malevolence beyond time, influencing human fragility, and challenging a curse that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so deep.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing horror lovers around the globe can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this unforgettable voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For film updates, special features, and press updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule braids together biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, set against legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in ancient scripture and extending to brand-name continuations alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios lock in tentpoles with established lines, as SVOD players pack the fall with debut heat and ancient terrors. 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 year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp opens the year with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a 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 each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching spook season: returning titles, universe starters, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current genre year crowds at the outset with a January traffic jam, subsequently stretches through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday frame, balancing brand heft, inventive spins, and well-timed release strategy. Distributors with platforms are betting on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that pivot these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has become the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 showed buyers that lean-budget shockers can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries underscored there is room for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with obvious clusters, a spread of legacy names and new pitches, and a reinvigorated stance on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on paid VOD and digital services.

Executives say the category now acts as a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, generate a grabby hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outperform with crowds that turn out on advance nights and sustain through the follow-up frame if the release connects. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup reflects belief in that setup. The year opens with a front-loaded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a autumn stretch that stretches into Halloween and beyond. The layout also features the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and scale up at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another return. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a new installment to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an machine companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that fuses romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered approach can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using in-app campaigns, horror hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, confirming horror entries closer to drop and eventizing rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting 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 direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception prompts. Keep an eye on 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 tandem, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales click to read more and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps frame the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down 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 spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

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

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects 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 loss-struck man’s artificial companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that leverages the dread of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. 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 period language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack 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 exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates 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 somber, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.