Primordial Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

An terrifying metaphysical thriller from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten curse when strangers become vehicles in a malevolent maze. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of endurance and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize horror this October. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody feature follows five figures who find themselves stranded in a hidden shelter under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Be prepared to be seized by a immersive ride that weaves together gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored tradition in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the malevolences no longer appear beyond the self, but rather internally. This marks the most hidden version of the players. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the drama becomes a constant conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five campers find themselves contained under the fiendish effect and possession of a obscure apparition. As the cast becomes paralyzed to withstand her rule, left alone and tormented by forces unfathomable, they are thrust to acknowledge their inner horrors while the moments mercilessly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and relationships implode, forcing each protagonist to scrutinize their identity and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The stakes grow with every breath, delivering a horror experience that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke primal fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and confronting a will that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers anywhere can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this life-altering journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these terrifying truths about our species.


For teasers, production news, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate fuses primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survival horror rooted in legendary theology and onward to legacy revivals and acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned along with strategic year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year with familiar IP, even as digital services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with primordial unease. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated 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 port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits 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.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new scare lineup: next chapters, new stories, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The current genre calendar stacks from day one with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that pivot horror entries into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has established itself as the consistent release in annual schedules, a category that can lift when it performs and still cushion the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to studio brass that mid-range genre plays can shape the national conversation, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The momentum rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and critical darlings proved there is demand for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of household franchises and new pitches, and a renewed commitment on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a simple premise for trailers and reels, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on preview nights and continue through the subsequent weekend if the release fires. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores faith in that dynamic. The slate opens with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a October build that stretches into the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also features the continuing integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The studios are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, on-set effects and grounded locations. That combination offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a heritage-honoring strategy without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back on screen, 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 relief option, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to reprise strange in-person beats and quick hits that fuses companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the Young & Cursed studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has Get More Info owned before. Peele’s work are sold as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to fill 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 centered on meticulous craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that boosts both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps make sense of the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a day-date move from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month finishes 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 thick, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that filters its scares through a young child’s shifting point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic 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: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. 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 raw menace. Rating: pending. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for Get More Info genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The sleeper chase 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and picture 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 Looks Exciting

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.