Primeval Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

This blood-curdling metaphysical suspense film from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic entity when unrelated individuals become instruments in a cursed struggle. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of survival and mythic evil that will reimagine the fear genre this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five teens who wake up stranded in a unreachable lodge under the oppressive manipulation of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a timeless sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be hooked by a visual outing that weaves together instinctive fear with mythic lore, unleashing 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 enduring motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reversed when the monsters no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the deepest corner of these individuals. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a perpetual confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving terrain, five friends find themselves isolated under the possessive effect and curse of a uncanny apparition. As the youths becomes paralyzed to escape her control, cut off and followed by evils mind-shattering, they are required to confront their inner horrors while the clock relentlessly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and bonds splinter, pressuring each protagonist to question their identity and the concept of freedom of choice itself. The pressure magnify with every breath, delivering a terror ride that integrates spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon primal fear, an force before modern man, feeding on mental cracks, and highlighting a force that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that evolution is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households globally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate weaves Mythic Possession, underground frights, alongside IP aftershocks

From grit-forward survival fare suffused with primordial scripture as well as returning series paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned combined with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios bookend the months through proven series, even as digital services stack the fall with fresh voices in concert with old-world menace. On another front, the independent cohort is fueled by the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. 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, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fear year to come: returning titles, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through peak season, and deep into the winter holidays, combining IP strength, fresh ideas, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are committing to right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that shape horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has emerged as the bankable counterweight in studio lineups, a category that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that efficiently budgeted entries can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is capacity for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized attention on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, create a sharp concept for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outperform with moviegoers that turn out on early shows and return through the week two if the film delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates trust in that engine. The year gets underway with a busy January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into late October and past the holiday. The program also illustrates the tightening integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and scale up at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared IP webs and heritage properties. Big banners are not just making another follow-up. They are aiming to frame continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a ensemble decision that links a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the high-profile originals are returning to physical effects work, in-camera effects and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves 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 seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly framework without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to renew odd public stunts and brief clips that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books 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 leaves room for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a reset 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost PLF interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that optimizes both FOMO and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video balances licensed films with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival deals, locking in horror entries closer to launch and staging as events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of precision releases and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern mix and grade. 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 suggested a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Expect 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 parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Three-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the year’s horror indicate a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off 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 crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month get redirected here winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power balance inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that leverages the fright of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and visuals 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.