Primordial Dread returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An unnerving spectral shockfest from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic fear when guests become pawns in a satanic game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of endurance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick fearfest follows five strangers who find themselves locked in a far-off structure under the aggressive rule of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be immersed by a cinematic event that weaves together raw fear with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the fiends no longer form outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This echoes the shadowy dimension of the group. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the suspense becomes a relentless confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five figures find themselves cornered under the ghastly effect and control of a shadowy figure. As the victims becomes incapable to break her manipulation, cut off and tormented by spirits ungraspable, they are compelled to acknowledge their emotional phantoms while the final hour coldly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties erode, forcing each figure to scrutinize their personhood and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The intensity amplify with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken elemental fright, an darkness from prehistory, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and testing a entity that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something darker than pain. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households no matter where they are can dive into this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Witness this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with ancient scripture and stretching into canon extensions in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned in tandem with strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors hold down the year via recognizable brands, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as ancestral chills. On another front, horror’s indie wing is carried on the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural 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 property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: 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

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre lineup: installments, non-franchise titles, alongside A loaded Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds right away with a January glut, before it runs through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing IP strength, creative pitches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that shape these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has emerged as the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it hits and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured buyers that modestly budgeted entries can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers showed there is a market for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across players, with clear date clusters, a pairing of brand names and untested plays, and a renewed priority on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and platforms.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can open on virtually any date, supply a grabby hook for marketing and vertical videos, and lead with demo groups that respond on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the offering satisfies. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup demonstrates faith in that approach. The slate launches with a stacked January run, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that carries into Halloween and past the holiday. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and digital platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and broaden at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. The players are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new vibe or a lead change that links a next film to a first wave. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s work are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, practical-first method can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the December frame to go wider. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 intimate haunting tale that refracts terror through a preteen’s unreliable perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set 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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns Check This Out again, with a new family entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. 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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 mine clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.