Age-old Dread Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled feature, debuting October 2025 across global platforms

A hair-raising otherworldly horror tale from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval force when newcomers become vehicles in a diabolical ordeal. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resilience and age-old darkness that will transform scare flicks this October. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic thriller follows five unknowns who snap to imprisoned in a far-off hideaway under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a prehistoric biblical demon. Get ready to be drawn in by a visual journey that integrates raw fear with legendary tales, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the presences no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This suggests the deepest shade of every character. The result is a enthralling mind game where the narrative becomes a intense push-pull between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken forest, five teens find themselves marooned under the fiendish presence and domination of a unidentified apparition. As the companions becomes incapacitated to break her curse, detached and pursued by spirits unfathomable, they are driven to deal with their deepest fears while the hours unforgivingly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and relationships erode, compelling each cast member to evaluate their values and the notion of liberty itself. The hazard rise with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken primal fear, an entity beyond recorded history, emerging via psychological breaks, and questioning a presence that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers internationally can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Witness this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these nightmarish insights about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup interlaces biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, and returning-series thunder

Ranging from life-or-death fear suffused with scriptural legend all the way to canon extensions together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned plus tactically planned year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios hold down the year through proven series, as subscription platforms flood the fall with debut heat as well as old-world menace. On another front, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

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

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fear slate: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, and also A loaded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek The brand-new genre cycle clusters immediately with a January logjam, subsequently carries through the summer months, and carrying into the holiday frame, braiding franchise firepower, original angles, and smart counterplay. Distributors with platforms are focusing on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that frame these releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has become the bankable lever in release strategies, a genre that can accelerate when it resonates and still limit the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to decision-makers that disciplined-budget entries can dominate the national conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing translated to 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries signaled there is appetite for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed attention on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and streaming.

Buyers contend the category now operates like a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can open on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for ad units and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on opening previews and return through the sophomore frame if the film satisfies. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates confidence in that engine. The slate begins with a front-loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also shows the tightening integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new tone or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That interplay yields 2026 a confident blend of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside Young & Cursed the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push rooted in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off 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 angle the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back creepy live activations and micro spots that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as 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 title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, on-set effects led treatment can feel big on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around lore, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by historical precision and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that enhances both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, fright rows, and curated rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to this content earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. 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 shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss work to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that filters its scares through a kid’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, this page freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, 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 visual texture, soundscape, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.