Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, landing Oct 2025 on premium platforms

A chilling spiritual fright fest from cinematographer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried dread when unfamiliar people become conduits in a hellish ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of resilience and mythic evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and emotionally thick tale follows five unknowns who find themselves ensnared in a cut-off wooden structure under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a prehistoric biblical force. Arm yourself to be immersed by a visual experience that harmonizes visceral dread with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the monsters no longer come beyond the self, but rather from their core. This marks the malevolent shade of the victims. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between right and wrong.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves imprisoned under the possessive aura and control of a elusive entity. As the characters becomes submissive to deny her control, exiled and tracked by unknowns impossible to understand, they are forced to battle their core terrors while the clock without pause ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia surges and teams disintegrate, pressuring each survivor to scrutinize their being and the structure of volition itself. The tension accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into basic terror, an darkness before modern man, working through soul-level flaws, and testing a will that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing households internationally can enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this haunted path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these spiritual awakenings about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule fuses myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Spanning survivor-centric dread suffused with biblical myth to IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios bookend the months with known properties, at the same time premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs alongside old-world menace. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner starts the year with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

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

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. 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, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller cycle: returning titles, original films, alongside A loaded Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek The incoming genre cycle lines up immediately with a January crush, from there unfolds through peak season, and well into the December corridor, blending IP strength, novel approaches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are committing to mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable move in studio calendars, a lane that can expand when it catches and still mitigate the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is space for varied styles, from continued chapters to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with defined corridors, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, generate a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a heavy January band, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The program also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and widen at the timely point.

A companion trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just making another sequel. They are trying to present continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that flags a new vibe or a star attachment that links a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That convergence offers 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking bent without repeating the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign stacked with signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that becomes a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate strange in-person beats and micro spots that interweaves romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to command 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a tactile, in-camera leaning strategy can feel big on a middle budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror shock that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 grounded in meticulous craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that elevates both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, fright rows, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival additions, confirming horror entries toward the drop and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 hinted a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind this slate signal a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, 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 reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which match well with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, 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 benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 abrasive boss push to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that pipes the unease through a child’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. 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 parody reboot that needles hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because my company scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the Check This Out creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, audio design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.