Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

An eerie mystic nightmare movie from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten dread when strangers become instruments in a devilish contest. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of resistance and primeval wickedness that will reshape scare flicks this Halloween season. Directed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric feature follows five characters who come to caught in a cut-off shelter under the dark command of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a timeless ancient fiend. Get ready to be immersed by a immersive display that blends bodily fright with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic narrative in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the entities no longer develop externally, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most terrifying facet of each of them. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the drama becomes a brutal face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a desolate forest, five teens find themselves contained under the evil control and infestation of a haunted person. As the team becomes unresisting to break her manipulation, left alone and stalked by creatures beyond comprehension, they are thrust to stand before their worst nightmares while the timeline ruthlessly winds toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and partnerships break, urging each survivor to question their character and the idea of volition itself. The intensity escalate with every instant, delivering a terror ride that combines ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into instinctual horror, an presence from ancient eras, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and exposing a power that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences in all regions can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has garnered over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Be sure to catch this visceral spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to face these unholy truths about human nature.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. calendar blends ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, paired with series shake-ups

From grit-forward survival fare suffused with ancient scripture and extending to IP renewals set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex in tandem with tactically planned year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with known properties, at the same time subscription platforms saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as archetypal fear. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 a smart play. No bloated canon. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming spook slate: continuations, standalone ideas, as well as A stacked Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek The new genre slate builds from the jump with a January cluster, before it runs through peak season, and well into the winter holidays, weaving legacy muscle, creative pitches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that position these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror marketplace has grown into the most reliable play in release plans, a category that can grow when it connects and still hedge the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 reconfirmed for strategy teams that low-to-mid budget shockers can command social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and stealth successes. The upswing rolled into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with planned clusters, a combination of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a re-energized stance on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and digital services.

Schedulers say the space now performs as a flex slot on the schedule. The genre can arrive on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for trailers and TikTok spots, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on advance nights and stay strong through the next pass if the film connects. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 plan demonstrates conviction in that model. The calendar kicks off with a front-loaded January block, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The gridline also features the continuing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A companion trend is brand management across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just making another entry. They are setting up continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a reframed mood or a talent selection that bridges a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing on-set craft, practical gags and concrete locations. That mix affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and discovery, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run leaning on signature symbols, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is crisp, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an artificial companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay eerie street stunts and snackable content that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working names 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 title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are marketed as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to saturate 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led strategy can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. imp source Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can drive format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of limited theatrical footprints and speedy platforming that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional cinema play for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to open out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception prompts. Look for 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 tandem, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and my review here early previews.

Rolling three-year comps frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The director conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct Source language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month closes 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 legit, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power balance reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 residential haunting tale that teases the dread of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for 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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room 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 exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound field, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.