Primordial Evil Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An hair-raising metaphysical thriller from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old malevolence when guests become pawns in a demonic game. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of resilience and age-old darkness that will resculpt the horror genre this spooky time. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody tale follows five figures who suddenly rise caught in a unreachable hideaway under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be hooked by a cinematic ride that blends raw fear with spiritual backstory, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary theme in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the demons no longer originate externally, but rather from deep inside. This mirrors the most hidden version of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a brutal face-off between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken no-man's-land, five young people find themselves isolated under the unholy presence and possession of a enigmatic spirit. As the ensemble becomes incapable to oppose her command, abandoned and attacked by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are obligated to endure their inner horrors while the hours unforgivingly draws closer toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and alliances crack, coercing each individual to doubt their existence and the structure of personal agency itself. The consequences amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon instinctual horror, an darkness born of forgotten ages, influencing our weaknesses, and testing a entity that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so private.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering watchers internationally can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has gathered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Experience this heart-stopping fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds old-world possession, underground frights, plus Franchise Rumbles

Moving from endurance-driven terror steeped in old testament echoes all the way to canon extensions alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned paired with blueprinted year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors bookend the months via recognizable brands, in tandem SVOD players prime the fall with new voices together with scriptural shivers. Meanwhile, independent banners is catching the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

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. Written 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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 Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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



The next genre season: next chapters, new stories, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek: The current horror season builds right away with a January glut, and then carries through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate genre releases into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable tool in studio slates, a pillar that can spike when it lands and still protect the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that efficiently budgeted shockers can dominate audience talk, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is appetite for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused eye on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on PVOD and home streaming.

Executives say the space now acts as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for creative and social clips, and over-index with audiences that arrive on preview nights and stay strong through the next pass if the film satisfies. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores certainty in that playbook. The year begins with a stacked January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that reaches into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and roll out at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just mounting another chapter. They are setting up story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are doubling down on real-world builds, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That combination offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a classic-referencing strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew creepy live activations and snackable content that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are branded as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is selling as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival additions, securing horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of precision releases and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway 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 sell is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker check my blog lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror 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 usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Keep an eye on 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 hand in hand, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The production chatter behind these films telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for Check This Out textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May prime the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 my review here is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run 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 unyielding boss claw to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising 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 intimate haunting story that manipulates the horror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: active. 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 language and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where midrange-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 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.