Antediluvian Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

An bone-chilling otherworldly shockfest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric curse when newcomers become proxies in a devilish struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of struggle and old world terror that will reshape the horror genre this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie cinema piece follows five strangers who arise trapped in a hidden shelter under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Be warned to be immersed by a filmic venture that blends instinctive fear with timeless legends, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a classic trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the spirits no longer descend from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This represents the deepest dimension of each of them. The result is a intense identity crisis where the tension becomes a brutal fight between right and wrong.


In a haunting terrain, five souls find themselves stuck under the evil grip and domination of a haunted woman. As the ensemble becomes helpless to combat her grasp, marooned and tormented by terrors beyond comprehension, they are made to deal with their greatest panics while the doomsday meter harrowingly ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and associations collapse, driving each person to examine their essence and the principle of volition itself. The cost escalate with every second, delivering a terror ride that integrates paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke raw dread, an entity beyond recorded history, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and confronting a being that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the control shifts, and that pivot is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing fans everywhere can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its intro video, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these dark realities about our species.


For sneak peeks, filmmaker commentary, and updates from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 in focus U.S. release slate integrates Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Kicking off with last-stand terror grounded in near-Eastern lore as well as installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most textured combined with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, simultaneously OTT services load up the fall with new voices and mythic dread. On the independent axis, independent banners is drafting behind the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

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, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching spook season: Sequels, new stories, and also A packed Calendar geared toward chills

Dek The current genre slate crowds at the outset with a January wave, following that stretches through the mid-year, and pushing into the late-year period, weaving legacy muscle, novel approaches, and savvy alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into lean spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that frame genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the steady option in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it catches and still limit the downside when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured executives that mid-range genre plays can own the zeitgeist, 2024 held pace with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum fed into 2025, where resurrections and elevated films proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across studios, with mapped-out bands, a spread of marquee IP and untested plays, and a renewed priority on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the genre now works like a swing piece on the release plan. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, deliver a grabby hook for creative and platform-native cuts, and outpace with moviegoers that show up on early shows and hold through the week two if the film lands. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping demonstrates belief in that model. The slate commences with a busy January block, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that stretches into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The program also illustrates the greater integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can platform a title, create conversation, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A companion trend is legacy care across shared universes and established properties. Distribution groups are not just mounting another next film. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that reconnects a upcoming film to a initial period. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating on-set craft, practical gags and vivid settings. That combination affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a classic-referencing mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reboots 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will go after broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are positioned as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, makeup-driven strategy can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a this content core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, fright rows, and collection rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together 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 offer is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to expand. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and have a peek at these guys Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and grow scope. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps 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 menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 residential haunting tale that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: pending. 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 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 use those gaps. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.