Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

One eerie supernatural terror film from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic malevolence when unfamiliar people become tokens in a cursed ceremony. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of perseverance and archaic horror that will reconstruct the fear genre this autumn. Helmed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five lost souls who suddenly rise caught in a off-grid hideaway under the malignant command of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be enthralled by a motion picture journey that unites bone-deep fear with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the beings no longer originate from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the most sinister facet of the cast. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the events becomes a relentless battle between right and wrong.


In a forsaken wild, five teens find themselves isolated under the fiendish force and infestation of a obscure character. As the cast becomes defenseless to resist her manipulation, detached and pursued by terrors beyond reason, they are thrust to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the time relentlessly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and links shatter, urging each person to scrutinize their values and the foundation of self-determination itself. The consequences surge with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into raw dread, an evil older than civilization itself, working through soul-level flaws, and dealing with a curse that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers everywhere can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this haunted exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these unholy truths about existence.


For film updates, production news, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate interlaces legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, and tentpole growls

Across grit-forward survival fare steeped in biblical myth and onward to series comebacks as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most complex along with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors hold down the year with familiar IP, even as streamers crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against archetypal fear. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is catching the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and 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 reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching fright year to come: brand plays, standalone ideas, alongside A stacked Calendar Built For chills

Dek The upcoming scare slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, and then carries through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that position these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent move in programming grids, a corner that can lift when it catches and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that modestly budgeted entries can drive pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles confirmed there is room for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that travel well. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of household franchises and original hooks, and a refocused emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and streaming.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can open on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the feature hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates trust in that dynamic. The year rolls out with a front-loaded January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to spooky season and into post-Halloween. The program also shows the stronger partnership of indie distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across linked properties and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that threads a new installment to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a roots-evoking treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave fueled by heritage visuals, early character teases, check my blog and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build general-audience talk through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that turns into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short reels that melds romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. 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 re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that expands both launch urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival snaps, slotting horror entries near launch and turning into events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed 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 go wider if reception warrants. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reframe POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued tilt toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that channels the fear through a preteen’s uneven subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. check over here Rating: pending. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 time-true diction and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the 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 visual texture, audio design, and camera work 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.