Antediluvian Dread Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, premiering Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

One frightening otherworldly fright fest from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval horror when outsiders become victims in a fiendish contest. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing depiction of perseverance and timeless dread that will reimagine horror this fall. Visualized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic tale follows five unacquainted souls who come to isolated in a hidden house under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a female presence consumed by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Be warned to be shaken by a cinematic spectacle that melds bone-deep fear with folklore, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a long-standing theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the monsters no longer develop from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the grimmest side of each of them. The result is a intense moral showdown where the emotions becomes a intense struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken forest, five campers find themselves contained under the fiendish dominion and infestation of a unknown female presence. As the cast becomes powerless to oppose her command, isolated and tormented by unknowns ungraspable, they are driven to endure their greatest panics while the final hour without pause runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and links shatter, prompting each soul to reflect on their self and the nature of autonomy itself. The cost amplify with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into basic terror, an evil beyond time, emerging via fragile psyche, and confronting a will that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that evolution is eerie because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving viewers worldwide can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to scare fans abroad.


Join this soul-jarring descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to explore these dark realities about free will.


For teasers, special features, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the 2025 season domestic schedule braids together archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with old testament echoes as well as legacy revivals and acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured along with calculated campaign year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, even as digital services saturate the fall with unboxed visions and scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, independent banners is fueled by the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. dated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. 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. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 fright slate: installments, original films, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The fresh scare calendar crowds at the outset with a January crush, subsequently rolls through midyear, and well into the year-end corridor, mixing brand equity, new voices, and smart counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio calendars, a corner that can accelerate when it breaks through and still hedge the exposure when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that cost-conscious shockers can own the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and original hooks, and a refocused eye on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. The genre can open on almost any weekend, generate a clean hook for spots and platform-native cuts, and outperform with demo groups that come out on opening previews and return through the second weekend if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout underscores certainty in that approach. The calendar opens with a weighty January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The schedule also highlights the expanded integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and widen at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across brand ecosystems and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are moving to present continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a early run. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a classic-referencing campaign without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning execution can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror surge that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with check my blog Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add oxygen. 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind these films suggest a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. 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 bigger brand plays. The month wraps 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 stiff, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 click to read more is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January my review here 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s artificial companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 try to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that mediates the fear via a kid’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven 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 return that targets modern genre fads and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use 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 track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout hunt 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, soundscape, 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.