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

An chilling ghostly nightmare movie from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old entity when foreigners become victims in a malevolent ceremony. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of continuance and prehistoric entity that will remodel terror storytelling this October. Produced by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five unknowns who come to stranded in a secluded lodge under the menacing power of Kyra, a central character claimed by a legendary scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic adventure that unites bodily fright with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather from deep inside. This portrays the grimmest corner of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the story becomes a soul-crushing battle between virtue and vice.


In a bleak outland, five souls find themselves caught under the possessive force and possession of a mysterious figure. As the group becomes unable to deny her manipulation, severed and pursued by spirits indescribable, they are thrust to endure their deepest fears while the hours unceasingly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and friendships crack, pressuring each survivor to doubt their essence and the notion of self-determination itself. The pressure magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that blends unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into core terror, an spirit rooted in antiquity, filtering through our weaknesses, and navigating a evil that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something darker than pain. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that shift is shocking because it is so personal.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering users around the globe can survive this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Join this haunted trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these evil-rooted truths about the soul.


For film updates, making-of footage, and press updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets stateside slate melds Mythic Possession, indie terrors, together with IP aftershocks

Across endurance-driven terror suffused with old testament echoes all the way to brand-name continuations together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified along with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, in parallel streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 spook Year Ahead: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek The new terror year crowds from the jump with a January logjam, after that runs through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, weaving brand heft, new concepts, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that frame these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has proven to be the surest move in annual schedules, a pillar that can spike when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can command the discourse, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend extended into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is appetite for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a lineup that appears tightly organized across players, with obvious clusters, a spread of recognizable IP and novel angles, and a tightened focus on cinema windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and digital services.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a schedule utility on the programming map. Horror can premiere on virtually any date, provide a quick sell for previews and short-form placements, and lead with viewers that line up on advance nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the entry hits. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration exhibits trust in that dynamic. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a October build that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The program also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just mounting another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that indicates a tonal shift or a casting pivot that ties a upcoming film to a heyday. At the very same time, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a smart balance of brand comfort and invention, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a handoff and a rootsy character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a legacy-leaning mode without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run fueled by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit odd public stunts and short-cut promos that melds devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel premium on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by historical precision and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind this slate forecast a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated 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 generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which play well in convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop 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 cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something lethally affectionate. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that twists the unease of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July have a peek at these guys 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household lashed to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.