Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, landing October 2025 across global platforms

One chilling occult horror tale from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric terror when foreigners become tools in a devilish conflict. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of struggle and age-old darkness that will remodel terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and immersive story follows five young adults who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable cottage under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a ancient ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be immersed by a narrative spectacle that integrates instinctive fear with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer descend from a different plane, but rather inside them. This echoes the deepest side of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the narrative becomes a intense clash between light and darkness.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five friends find themselves cornered under the ghastly presence and curse of a mysterious female figure. As the characters becomes defenseless to oppose her command, cut off and hunted by entities beyond reason, they are thrust to face their deepest fears while the time harrowingly pushes forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and relationships collapse, urging each survivor to doubt their values and the principle of conscious will itself. The danger intensify with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken raw dread, an force from prehistory, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and confronting a curse that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users around the globe can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this unforgettable fall into madness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For featurettes, extra content, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, together with tentpole growls

Across endurance-driven terror rooted in old testament echoes and stretching into brand-name continuations together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned along with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, simultaneously streaming platforms prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as legend-coded dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is drafting behind the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps 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 calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

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 burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. 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, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 scare calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The incoming genre slate builds from day one with a January bottleneck, after that extends through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, marrying franchise firepower, creative pitches, and strategic counterprogramming. Distributors with platforms are betting on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that frame genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has solidified as the surest release in studio slates, a lane that can spike when it clicks and still mitigate the drag when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget genre plays can own the discourse, the following year kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum flowed into 2025, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries underscored there is a market for several lanes, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The end result for 2026 is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a simple premise for spots and shorts, and lead with fans that come out on opening previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that equation. The year gets underway with a stacked January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The layout also underscores the continuing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing offers 2026 a vital pairing of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two prominent pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a fan-service aware strategy without repeating the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick shifts to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and micro spots that mixes attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led execution can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled 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 re-enters in what Sony is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by careful craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both first-week urgency and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival deals, dating horror entries tight to release and turning into events go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps illuminate the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and increase ambition. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps 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 real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface news while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a youth’s flickering POV. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, 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 icy, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.