Ancient Darkness returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on premium platforms

A chilling supernatural shockfest from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial dread when unknowns become instruments in a hellish struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of staying alive and archaic horror that will revolutionize the horror genre this harvest season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and tone-heavy fearfest follows five figures who arise stuck in a secluded shack under the dark influence of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a theatrical spectacle that fuses bone-deep fear with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic motif in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the demons no longer appear beyond the self, but rather deep within. This mirrors the deepest corner of the cast. The result is a intense moral showdown where the tension becomes a perpetual push-pull between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five teens find themselves cornered under the fiendish rule and spiritual invasion of a mysterious entity. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to fight her control, cut off and hunted by evils impossible to understand, they are thrust to reckon with their worst nightmares while the clock relentlessly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and associations break, pressuring each person to question their character and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The stakes amplify with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates mystical fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon deep fear, an entity that existed before mankind, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and highlighting a presence that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is ignorant until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing households globally can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has gathered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this life-altering fall into madness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. calendar integrates biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from last-stand terror drawn from scriptural legend and stretching into installment follow-ups plus surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most textured plus blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors hold down the year with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers load up the fall with new voices set against primordial unease. Meanwhile, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror returns
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The 2026 scare release year: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, plus A jammed Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The new terror slate lines up in short order with a January cluster, thereafter unfolds through the mid-year, and straight through the festive period, mixing IP strength, inventive spins, and shrewd counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are betting on tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that pivot genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the dependable move in release strategies, a segment that can accelerate when it breaks through and still protect the exposure when it falls short. After 2023 demonstrated to decision-makers that lean-budget chillers can lead the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The run pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for a variety of tones, from series extensions to original one-offs that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with defined corridors, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a sharpened attention on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and streaming.

Buyers contend the category now behaves like a utility player on the schedule. Horror can open on numerous frames, create a quick sell for ad units and vertical videos, and exceed norms with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and return through the subsequent weekend if the release delivers. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that reaches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across shared IP webs and established properties. Major shops are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That interplay delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a throwback-friendly strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will generate wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling quick pivots to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise creepy live activations and brief clips that mixes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are positioned as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led execution can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries near launch and eventizing rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane 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 sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not block a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and raise the stakes. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind these films signal a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for Get More Info 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which fit with con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that channels the fear through a youth’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan lashed to past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 language and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer his comment is here locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust 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 journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.