Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching October 2025 across global platforms

This terrifying spiritual suspense film from narrative craftsman / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric horror when unknowns become subjects in a devilish struggle. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of staying alive and timeless dread that will remodel horror this season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and gothic film follows five young adults who come to imprisoned in a wooded lodge under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a legendary biblical force. Get ready to be absorbed by a immersive adventure that harmonizes primitive horror with ancestral stories, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer manifest from beyond, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most terrifying aspect of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the story becomes a relentless contest between light and darkness.


In a isolated wilderness, five characters find themselves marooned under the malevolent influence and infestation of a shadowy spirit. As the cast becomes submissive to escape her command, severed and attacked by beings ungraspable, they are driven to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter unforgivingly ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and ties collapse, demanding each cast member to question their existence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure grow with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into primal fear, an presence older than civilization itself, manipulating inner turmoil, and wrestling with a presence that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure watchers no matter where they are can face this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has attracted over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this visceral trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses old-world possession, underground frights, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in legendary theology and stretching into series comebacks together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the richest as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, while streamers crowd the fall with emerging auteurs set against ancestral chills. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is surfing the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by 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. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 swollen lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

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

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. 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. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 chiller slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The incoming horror slate crowds right away with a January pile-up, from there rolls through midyear, and carrying into the winter holidays, mixing brand heft, original angles, and savvy release strategy. Studios and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these offerings into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The field has proven to be the sturdy release in distribution calendars, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the floor when it misses. After 2023 reassured studio brass that disciplined-budget genre plays can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for different modes, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with intentional bunching, a spread of household franchises and new pitches, and a refocused attention on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home streaming.

Planners observe the space now slots in as a wildcard on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a clean hook for marketing and reels, and over-index with audiences that turn out on advance nights and return through the second frame if the feature pays off. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration telegraphs confidence in that logic. The year rolls out with a busy January block, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also highlights the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and grow at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is series management across unified worlds and legacy IP. The players are not just making another chapter. They are setting up brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a recalibrated tone or a star attachment that anchors a latest entry to a foundational era. At the same time, the creative leads behind the top original plays are prioritizing tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That interplay offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a roots-evoking framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, somber, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that fuses affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven method can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake 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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that boosts both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using curated hubs, October hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of precision releases and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to open out. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at 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 base.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when Check This Out the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the team and cast is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not hamper a day-date move from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

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

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss push to survive on a remote island as the power balance reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 residential haunting chiller that routes the horror through a kid’s wavering perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

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 spoof revival that riffs on hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which check over here gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

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

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, 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 materiality, sonics, and camera work 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.