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

This haunting ghostly scare-fest from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried curse when guests become puppets in a cursed ritual. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of resistance and ancient evil that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this fall. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick feature follows five teens who regain consciousness caught in a isolated structure under the sinister power of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Get ready to be absorbed by a big screen display that integrates gut-punch terror with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the spirits no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from within. This represents the deepest layer of the protagonists. The result is a intense mental war where the emotions becomes a brutal tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a abandoned terrain, five campers find themselves trapped under the malevolent aura and grasp of a elusive woman. As the characters becomes defenseless to reject her dominion, severed and tormented by spirits mind-shattering, they are confronted to stand before their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter unforgivingly draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion intensifies and teams dissolve, requiring each person to question their personhood and the notion of autonomy itself. The threat climb with every passing moment, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an presence beyond recorded history, manipulating mental cracks, and highlighting a spirit that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers everywhere can engage with this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Join this gripping exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these dark realities about our species.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and social posts from the creators, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





The horror genre’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate blends Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, plus returning-series thunder

From survival horror inspired by legendary theology as well as IP renewals in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most complex plus intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios bookend the months using marquee IP, while digital services crowd the fall with new perspectives and archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated 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.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. 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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles 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 Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 Horror Year Ahead: Sequels, Originals, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek: The current scare cycle lines up immediately with a January bottleneck, after that stretches through summer corridors, and straight through the year-end corridor, blending marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical offsets. Studios and streamers are betting on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that pivot these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has grown into the surest release in studio lineups, a genre that can expand when it lands and still hedge the exposure when it falls short. After 2023 signaled to executives that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can own cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The trend rolled into 2025, where reboots and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is an opening for many shades, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened strategy on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on a wide range of weekends, deliver a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the offering connects. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects comfort in that approach. The slate kicks off with a heavy January window, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also features the continuing integration of specialty arms and platforms that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and scale up at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and classic IP. The players are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a latest entry to a classic era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are embracing tactile craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a memory-charged framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout driven by recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, news directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will seek wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that grows into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that threads companionship and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are framed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to lead 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, hands-on effects mix can feel big on a middle budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror surge that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video balances library titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in archive usage, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. 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, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

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 heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting chiller that frames the panic through a youngster’s unsteady perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 surges, with an global 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout hunt 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.