Primordial Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on global platforms

This terrifying spiritual terror film from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an archaic entity when unfamiliar people become tools in a malevolent ceremony. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of struggle and timeless dread that will reimagine the fear genre this harvest season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick story follows five young adults who arise trapped in a wilderness-bound lodge under the malignant command of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be gripped by a immersive display that harmonizes intense horror with ancient myths, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reversed when the presences no longer come beyond the self, but rather from their core. This suggests the most sinister layer of the protagonists. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing struggle between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five characters find themselves trapped under the dark presence and control of a enigmatic character. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to evade her grasp, marooned and followed by terrors beyond comprehension, they are made to battle their darkest emotions while the countdown ruthlessly edges forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and associations splinter, prompting each figure to rethink their values and the idea of autonomy itself. The tension magnify with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore elemental fright, an entity rooted in antiquity, emerging via fragile psyche, and questioning a being that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that flip is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers from coast to coast can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this visceral trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these unholy truths about the psyche.


For teasers, making-of footage, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar weaves archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare infused with primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured as well as deliberate year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, concurrently platform operators load up the fall with new perspectives and ancestral chills. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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 fades, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

What’s Next: 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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare slate: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The fresh genre season stacks up front with a January logjam, subsequently extends through summer corridors, and straight through the year-end corridor, blending brand heft, original angles, and smart counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are committing to smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that pivot horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has emerged as the most reliable counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it clicks and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted pictures can lead social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles underscored there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a slate that is strikingly coherent across the field, with obvious clusters, a blend of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and home streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can debut on virtually any date, generate a tight logline for teasers and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that show up on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that playbook. The calendar starts with a heavy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a September to October window that extends to Halloween and into November. The program also underscores the expanded integration of specialty arms and streamers that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and expand at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and classic IP. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a re-angled tone or a lead change that threads a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That convergence produces 2026 a lively combination of home base and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a memory-charged strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that blurs love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-effects forward style can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that boosts both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. 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 into a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not block a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which align with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 marquee brands. The month wraps 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 thick, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that manipulates the dread of a child’s unreliable interpretations. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family snared by returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

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

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

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming get redirected here math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 bleak, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, 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, and camera work 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 reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, 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 the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.