Primeval Horror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across global platforms

An bone-chilling unearthly suspense film from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried evil when strangers become puppets in a devilish maze. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of continuance and primordial malevolence that will reshape the fear genre this October. Brought to life by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric motion picture follows five individuals who find themselves locked in a hidden shack under the sinister will of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a biblical-era holy text monster. Be prepared to be enthralled by a audio-visual presentation that harmonizes deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the presences no longer originate from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most sinister layer of every character. The result is a harrowing mental war where the events becomes a brutal fight between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken landscape, five individuals find themselves stuck under the possessive grip and haunting of a haunted woman. As the protagonists becomes incapable to withstand her command, detached and preyed upon by forces ungraspable, they are confronted to endure their inner demons while the hours coldly pushes forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and links dissolve, forcing each character to question their character and the idea of volition itself. The threat amplify with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that connects otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken pure dread, an curse from ancient eras, channeling itself through mental cracks, and questioning a spirit that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the control shifts, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing audiences across the world can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to global fright lovers.


Experience this cinematic exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these chilling revelations about the soul.


For bonus footage, extra content, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 American release plan fuses primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, together with IP aftershocks

Spanning life-or-death fear rooted in legendary theology all the way to IP renewals alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned as well as intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, in parallel OTT services load up the fall with new voices in concert with primordial unease. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is buoyed by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered 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. 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. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The new scare year crowds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the predictable move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it hits and still mitigate the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that disciplined-budget shockers can drive social chatter, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles made clear there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of established brands and novel angles, and a revived commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now performs as a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can kick off on nearly any frame, yield a clear pitch for spots and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that line up on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the title works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 plan signals trust in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a front-loaded January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into early November. The gridline also highlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That convergence gives 2026 a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout fueled by iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is marketing as a new take 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 mission to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can drive large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects supply the 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, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was potent. In Young & Cursed 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which align with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends 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 meaningful, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

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 done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that teases the horror of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: major-studio and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that teases contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist 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 leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where modest-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 exploit those windows. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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, soundscape, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.