Primordial Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

An terrifying otherworldly horror tale from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient terror when guests become tools in a devilish conflict. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of perseverance and old world terror that will revamp horror this October. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and moody cinema piece follows five people who arise caught in a off-grid shelter under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be shaken by a immersive display that intertwines soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This marks the malevolent side of every character. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the story becomes a relentless tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a haunting outland, five characters find themselves caught under the unholy aura and curse of a uncanny character. As the protagonists becomes incapable to oppose her command, stranded and preyed upon by evils mind-shattering, they are required to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the final hour coldly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and teams break, driving each participant to contemplate their true nature and the notion of free will itself. The consequences rise with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken primal fear, an threat from prehistory, manipulating soul-level flaws, and examining a darkness that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that customers across the world can get immersed in this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, making the film to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these dark realities about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside franchise surges

Spanning last-stand terror infused with scriptural legend and stretching into installment follow-ups plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered as well as strategic year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, as subscription platforms crowd the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by 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 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. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming chiller calendar year ahead: continuations, original films, in tandem with A hectic Calendar aimed at Scares

Dek The new terror season packs immediately with a January pile-up, following that runs through June and July, and carrying into the holidays, combining legacy muscle, inventive spins, and smart counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has turned into the bankable tool in studio calendars, a space that can lift when it resonates and still hedge the exposure when it misses. After 2023 showed executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can own the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers underscored there is a lane for different modes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a balance of familiar brands and novel angles, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, furnish a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and punch above weight with viewers that arrive on preview nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the picture delivers. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates belief in that playbook. The calendar starts with a crowded January block, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a autumn push that runs into the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The gridline also reflects the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and platforms that can build gradually, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand curation across shared universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that connects a upcoming film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing physical effects work, practical gags and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics character piece. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that blurs devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, Check This Out the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s releases are marketed as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror hit that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is presenting 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 charge to serve both franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around setting detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that optimizes both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, October hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, modernized for modern sound and image. 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 flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set clarify the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that mediates the fear via a little one’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. 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 creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles in-vogue horror great post to read tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase 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 sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.