Primeval Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on premium platforms

An bone-chilling occult scare-fest from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic horror when guests become tokens in a satanic experiment. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of perseverance and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this fall. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy feature follows five people who emerge stranded in a wilderness-bound cottage under the ominous control of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a antiquated holy text monster. Be warned to be drawn in by a screen-based ride that integrates raw fear with ancestral stories, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the malevolences no longer form from beyond, but rather from within. This embodies the grimmest side of the victims. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the plotline becomes a unforgiving face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five teens find themselves isolated under the fiendish presence and inhabitation of a enigmatic female figure. As the victims becomes helpless to combat her curse, detached and chased by evils mind-shattering, they are cornered to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and partnerships fracture, urging each character to examine their being and the idea of volition itself. The risk rise with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract ancestral fear, an entity older than civilization itself, filtering through psychological breaks, and wrestling with a evil that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering horror lovers internationally can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this life-altering descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For previews, extra content, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 stateside slate blends ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, plus returning-series thunder

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in mythic scripture through to series comebacks alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex in tandem with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with established lines, simultaneously platform operators stack the fall with new voices set against scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is carried on the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the WB camp bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. 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 is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming chiller slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A loaded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The emerging terror cycle builds right away with a January glut, and then rolls through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, marrying series momentum, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. Studios and streamers are committing to tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the sturdy move in studio calendars, a segment that can grow when it clicks and still hedge the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year showed executives that disciplined-budget shockers can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a blend of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, offer a clear pitch for ad units and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the next pass if the feature pays off. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup shows belief in that model. The year gets underway with a busy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The layout also underscores the tightening integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is series management across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a new entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push anchored in brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that melds longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to maximize 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, great post to read hands-on effects method can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival additions, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together 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 angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. 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, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which align with expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

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 big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven 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 abrasive boss work to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that explores the terror of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up 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 strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. 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 my company for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.