Primeval Dread Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An eerie spectral terror film from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old terror when passersby become instruments in a malevolent experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish episode of survival and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five people who snap to ensnared in a wooded house under the dark control of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a ancient scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based journey that merges raw fear with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the monsters no longer arise beyond the self, but rather from within. This represents the deepest aspect of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the drama becomes a constant conflict between good and evil.


In a isolated forest, five campers find themselves cornered under the dark grip and domination of a haunted person. As the team becomes unresisting to escape her power, left alone and chased by unknowns unnamable, they are thrust to battle their soulful dreads while the clock harrowingly pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and bonds disintegrate, pressuring each person to evaluate their self and the foundation of free will itself. The pressure intensify with every beat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that connects ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore ancestral fear, an darkness beyond recorded history, manipulating our fears, and dealing with a will that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that transition is eerie because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing subscribers everywhere can survive this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has attracted over six-figure audience.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this heart-stopping fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these terrifying truths about human nature.


For bonus footage, production news, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, paired with franchise surges

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread inspired by scriptural legend through to canon extensions set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses hold down the year with franchise anchors, at the same time SVOD players prime the fall with fresh voices and mythic dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed 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 reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside 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. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 genre calendar year ahead: returning titles, original films, paired with A brimming Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek The upcoming horror year loads up front with a January pile-up, then runs through peak season, and continuing into the year-end corridor, blending marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are relying on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that convert these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has shown itself to be the most reliable option in studio lineups, a genre that can expand when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year showed executives that modestly budgeted pictures can command the discourse, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now operates like a swing piece on the grid. The genre can roll out on numerous frames, generate a grabby hook for spots and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the second frame if the entry works. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a fall corridor that extends to All Hallows period and into November. The calendar also includes the greater integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform a title, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that indicates a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence delivers 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a memory-charged angle without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with signature symbols, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will drive general-audience talk through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that mixes longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are sold as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven style can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both fans and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that fortifies both week-one demand and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival grabs, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc 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 promise is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a cinema-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not deter a day-date try from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind these films point to a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. Universal’s 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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October Young & Cursed 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday 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 rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie 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 meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that threads the dread through a youth’s unsteady perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. 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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF this page penetration 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and framing 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.