Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on premium platforms

An frightening ghostly fear-driven tale from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old malevolence when passersby become instruments in a malevolent conflict. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of struggle and timeless dread that will reshape the fear genre this harvest season. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie feature follows five individuals who wake up stranded in a cut-off cottage under the aggressive power of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a cinematic display that harmonizes bone-deep fear with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the monsters no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the most primal facet of all involved. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing fight between innocence and sin.


In a remote natural abyss, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the malicious aura and infestation of a obscure female presence. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to combat her grasp, abandoned and tracked by powers impossible to understand, they are compelled to face their soulful dreads while the countdown harrowingly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion surges and connections fracture, demanding each participant to doubt their true nature and the foundation of personal agency itself. The cost magnify with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes spiritual fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel core terror, an entity beyond time, influencing our weaknesses, and questioning a spirit that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that turn is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers across the world can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these fearful discoveries about free will.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar Mixes legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside series shake-ups

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from ancient scripture and stretching into franchise returns paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned combined with tactically planned year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions alongside ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is carried on the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, 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 heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching terror cycle: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, And A brimming Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The brand-new scare slate builds from day one with a January crush, before it stretches through summer corridors, and well into the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, inventive spins, and calculated alternatives. The major players are focusing on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent play in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is an opening for several lanes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now works like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a quick sell for ad units and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the week two if the feature satisfies. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates conviction in that logic. The year commences with a thick January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that flows toward the Halloween frame and into the next week. The arrangement also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are aiming to frame continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that links a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, real effects and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, prosthetic-heavy method can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that elevates both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. 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 somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on 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 in parallel, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years see here Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which are ideal for fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. 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 sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss work to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that mediates the fear via a child’s uneven perspective. Rating: pending. Production: completed. 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 creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend 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 parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where 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 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. 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 meet the timing for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.