Antediluvian Dread Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on global platforms

One eerie otherworldly fright fest from literary architect / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric malevolence when unrelated individuals become victims in a supernatural conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of overcoming and old world terror that will reimagine terror storytelling this season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic suspense flick follows five unknowns who awaken ensnared in a far-off cottage under the hostile sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be enthralled by a theatrical display that harmonizes raw fear with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the beings no longer appear externally, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the grimmest layer of the group. The result is a relentless mental war where the plotline becomes a unyielding contest between right and wrong.


In a barren forest, five individuals find themselves isolated under the ominous rule and curse of a elusive apparition. As the victims becomes submissive to break her curse, severed and stalked by entities beyond comprehension, they are made to deal with their inner horrors while the countdown mercilessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and connections erode, requiring each character to contemplate their values and the idea of liberty itself. The tension grow with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken primal fear, an curse that existed before mankind, filtering through mental cracks, and highlighting a presence that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans internationally can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For previews, production news, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 stateside slate integrates biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, and brand-name tremors

Moving from grit-forward survival fare saturated with biblical myth to returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted and blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, in tandem SVOD players prime the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is buoyed by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next fright cycle: entries, original films, as well as A hectic Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The arriving horror calendar clusters right away with a January cluster, and then flows through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, fusing brand heft, inventive spins, and smart release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that turn the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the consistent move in release strategies, a category that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the liability when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that mid-range shockers can lead the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The energy extended into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays highlighted there is a lane for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that export nicely. The end result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across the industry, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of known properties and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated focus on box-office windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Marketers add the space now serves as a versatile piece on the rollout map. The genre can open on most weekends, furnish a sharp concept for trailers and short-form placements, and punch above weight with patrons that lean in on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the movie delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping shows certainty in that equation. The calendar begins with a heavy January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a autumn push that extends to late October and into November. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. The studios are not just making another follow-up. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a star attachment that ties a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are celebrating on-set craft, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy affords 2026 a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which his comment is here is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a nostalgia-forward campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected stacked with signature symbols, first images of More about the author characters, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that grows into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to echo uncanny live moments and bite-size content that threads romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first treatment can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that optimizes both week-one demand and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed content with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is anchored enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns announce the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from succeeding when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind this slate hint at a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast 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 legit, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that leverages the panic of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

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 satire sequel that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely have a peek at these guys secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, 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 tactility, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.