Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This chilling unearthly horror tale from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient entity when guests become tools in a dark trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of survival and ancient evil that will redefine genre cinema this season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric thriller follows five unacquainted souls who awaken stranded in a wilderness-bound cabin under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a visual display that melds gut-punch terror with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the fiends no longer form externally, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the grimmest side of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing face-off between moral forces.


In a forsaken wilderness, five souls find themselves caught under the ghastly presence and inhabitation of a obscure being. As the companions becomes incapable to resist her influence, abandoned and attacked by creatures unnamable, they are confronted to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter brutally pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and ties erode, urging each participant to rethink their character and the integrity of autonomy itself. The stakes surge with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into instinctual horror, an darkness born of forgotten ages, operating within fragile psyche, and dealing with a force that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering households worldwide can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this mind-warping path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For bonus footage, special features, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus stateside slate Mixes myth-forward possession, independent shockers, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with ancient scripture all the way to canon extensions in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors bookend the months through proven series, as streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions plus primordial unease. At the same time, independent banners is surfing the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. 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 forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming terror slate: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The arriving scare calendar lines up up front with a January glut, then unfolds through June and July, and running into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed executives that modestly budgeted entries can drive cultural conversation, the following year kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam fed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the market, with obvious clusters, a spread of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated commitment on cinema windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. Horror can debut on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for spots and social clips, and outperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the feature connects. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 pattern telegraphs certainty in that logic. The year rolls out with a busy January block, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a star attachment that reconnects a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are returning to in-camera technique, real effects and specific settings. That pairing hands 2026 a robust balance of known notes and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance hints at a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that shifts into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that blurs intimacy and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are branded as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Young & Cursed Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that maximizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival snaps, timing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of precision releases and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is my company designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which play well in fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 real, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have click to read more cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that twists the chill of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 fear. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and image-making 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.