Ancient Darkness Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This haunting supernatural thriller from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried terror when strangers become conduits in a dark ceremony. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of endurance and archaic horror that will reshape the fear genre this fall. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and emotionally thick feature follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred stuck in a wilderness-bound cabin under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a central character claimed by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be ensnared by a audio-visual ride that fuses instinctive fear with timeless legends, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the entities no longer descend externally, but rather inside them. This portrays the shadowy facet of every character. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a perpetual battle between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving forest, five young people find themselves stuck under the dark force and inhabitation of a enigmatic figure. As the victims becomes vulnerable to escape her manipulation, cut off and chased by presences ungraspable, they are compelled to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the moments coldly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust deepens and relationships collapse, demanding each figure to evaluate their identity and the notion of autonomy itself. The hazard magnify with every tick, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken instinctual horror, an malevolence that predates humanity, manifesting in psychological breaks, and exposing a power that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that transition is deeply unsettling because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing customers worldwide can engage with this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this life-altering exploration of dread. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these chilling revelations about human nature.


For director insights, special features, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar interlaces biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, and franchise surges

Spanning grit-forward survival fare rooted in legendary theology and including legacy revivals in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most textured as well as strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, in tandem OTT services crowd the fall with emerging auteurs and scriptural shivers. On another front, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving 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.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, 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.

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 is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. 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 tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 fright Year Ahead: continuations, standalone ideas, alongside A brimming Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek The brand-new horror slate lines up up front with a January pile-up, then spreads through summer corridors, and running into the late-year period, weaving legacy muscle, novel approaches, and strategic offsets. Studios with streamers are relying on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the most reliable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it catches and still cushion the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed decision-makers that disciplined-budget entries can dominate cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The tailwind carried into 2025, where returns and elevated films underscored there is room for a spectrum, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a blend of known properties and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and platforms.

Executives say the space now behaves like a utility player on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on many corridors, create a simple premise for creative and vertical videos, and outpace with ticket buyers that arrive on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the movie delivers. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm shows faith in that dynamic. The year begins with a loaded January block, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that connects to late October and past the holiday. The program also features the greater integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can build gradually, spark evangelism, and grow at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just turning out another entry. They are moving to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a reframed mood or a cast configuration that ties a new entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are leaning into physical effects work, real effects and vivid settings. That fusion delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a memory-charged treatment without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that grows into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to dominate 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered approach can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is selling as a reset 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 focus to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. 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 brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to open out. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Expect 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 tandem, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The workable fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set clarify the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

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 advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. 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 widowed man’s intelligent companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 unyielding boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power balance tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that plays with the unease of a child’s uncertain perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-supported and celebrity-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify Check This Out premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.