Ancient Dread returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

A hair-raising spectral shockfest from literary architect / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old evil when drifters become victims in a fiendish contest. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of survival and ancient evil that will transform the horror genre this season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic motion picture follows five lost souls who are stirred stranded in a cut-off structure under the malignant grip of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a time-worn biblical demon. Brace yourself to be captivated by a visual display that integrates deep-seated panic with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reimagined when the fiends no longer descend outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the most primal aspect of the players. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a unforgiving confrontation between moral forces.


In a remote natural abyss, five young people find themselves stuck under the possessive grip and infestation of a unknown figure. As the group becomes vulnerable to evade her command, detached and preyed upon by evils indescribable, they are driven to reckon with their greatest panics while the clock ruthlessly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and partnerships splinter, driving each figure to reconsider their self and the nature of free will itself. The hazard grow with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover raw dread, an curse rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through our weaknesses, and highlighting a presence that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households across the world can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to international horror buffs.


Join this cinematic ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these nightmarish insights about free will.


For sneak peeks, production news, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate weaves primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror inspired by legendary theology as well as installment follow-ups as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified along with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, at the same time OTT services stack the fall with unboxed visions in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is fueled by the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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

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, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

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

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming Horror year to come: next chapters, original films, And A packed Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek: The new horror slate lines up in short order with a January pile-up, then stretches through summer, and carrying into the late-year period, combining brand heft, creative pitches, and well-timed offsets. Studios and platforms are doubling down on efficient budgets, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that position these releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has proven to be the dependable counterweight in release plans, a corner that can grow when it breaks through and still mitigate the downside when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that modestly budgeted genre plays can command audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays demonstrated there is space for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that export nicely. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with mapped-out bands, a blend of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a tightened eye on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the genre now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. Horror can open on most weekends, create a sharp concept for ad units and vertical videos, and outstrip with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and continue through the subsequent weekend if the title connects. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout signals confidence in that engine. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The grid also spotlights the continuing integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Big banners are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a reframed mood or a lead change that bridges a new entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing hands-on technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination produces 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, presenting it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a memory-charged angle without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens 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 angle the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that interlaces attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, practical-effects forward style can feel premium on a controlled budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fan events.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that expands both premiere heat and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video will mix licensed films with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and collection rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival deals, slotting horror entries tight to release and turning into events go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a hybrid of precision releases and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, check over here a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. 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 mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a return 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a wintry, elemental feel 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 delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tone spread navigate here gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 navigate here on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that teases the horror of a child’s fragile interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, 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 tactility, aural design, and visual design 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.