Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A eerie paranormal scare-fest from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic force when foreigners become subjects in a dark trial. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of endurance and age-old darkness that will alter the fear genre this scare season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic screenplay follows five unknowns who snap to isolated in a wooded house under the unfriendly dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a antiquated biblical force. Be warned to be seized by a narrative presentation that melds bodily fright with folklore, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the entities no longer form externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the deepest corner of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the emotions becomes a unforgiving struggle between heaven and hell.


In a desolate wild, five characters find themselves contained under the ghastly force and infestation of a obscure entity. As the group becomes helpless to fight her control, disconnected and preyed upon by beings inconceivable, they are cornered to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter relentlessly moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and relationships fracture, pressuring each participant to examine their values and the notion of liberty itself. The cost amplify with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that connects ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke pure dread, an entity beyond recorded history, feeding on mental cracks, and challenging a presence that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households no matter where they are can witness this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this visceral descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these terrifying truths about inner darkness.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, alongside returning-series thunder

From fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with old testament echoes and onward to returning series plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios hold down the year with familiar IP, while streaming platforms load up the fall with fresh voices in concert with legend-coded dread. On another front, the art-house flank is fueled by the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a confident swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fright cycle: installments, new stories, And A stacked Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The upcoming terror year crowds from the jump with a January logjam, from there extends through peak season, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and shrewd calendar placement. Studios with streamers are leaning into mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that turn horror entries into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the most reliable swing in release plans, a pillar that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious scare machines can lead mainstream conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries showed there is demand for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated priority on box-office windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now behaves like a wildcard on the grid. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, generate a grabby hook for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and stick through the second frame if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores trust in that logic. The calendar starts with a loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The calendar also highlights the ongoing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Studios are not just mounting another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a tonal shift or a star attachment that bridges a new installment to a early run. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the top original plays are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That blend offers 2026 a vital pairing of comfort 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 centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a fan-service aware strategy without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push built on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that mutates into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and short reels that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets 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 dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are sold as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first style can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around world-building, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that boosts both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate 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 sell is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. 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 together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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 rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 intimate haunting narrative that channels the fear through a little one’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, this content followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.