Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

A blood-curdling supernatural suspense story from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried evil when strangers become proxies in a malevolent ritual. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of endurance and old world terror that will reconstruct scare flicks this cool-weather season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody feature follows five characters who come to imprisoned in a wooded shelter under the dark influence of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture venture that melds deep-seated panic with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the beings no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This marks the darkest side of every character. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between heaven and hell.


In a haunting natural abyss, five souls find themselves marooned under the malicious control and possession of a elusive figure. As the ensemble becomes defenseless to combat her power, cut off and followed by spirits impossible to understand, they are pushed to encounter their core terrors while the timeline relentlessly ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust amplifies and bonds crack, prompting each participant to question their being and the idea of decision-making itself. The risk amplify with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into primal fear, an force beyond time, feeding on human fragility, and navigating a force that forces self-examination when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure streamers no matter where they are can engage with this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has collected over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this gripping ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these unholy truths about existence.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and social posts directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season U.S. calendar melds ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with endurance-driven terror inspired by legendary theology and onward to series comebacks in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the richest plus strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem digital services pack the fall with fresh voices together with archetypal fear. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered 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. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 calculated bet. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts 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.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new Horror season: entries, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A busy Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The upcoming genre slate loads at the outset with a January cluster, then runs through the summer months, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding marquee clout, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that pivot genre titles into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the consistent release in annual schedules, a genre that can expand when it connects and still hedge the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that efficiently budgeted genre plays can drive cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and premium-leaning entries signaled there is an opening for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a schedule that shows rare alignment across the market, with mapped-out bands, a balance of legacy names and new pitches, and a revived eye on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can debut on numerous frames, create a grabby hook for creative and shorts, and overperform with audiences that arrive on previews Thursday and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping indicates confidence in that approach. The slate kicks off with a crowded January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while clearing room for a autumn push that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The schedule also illustrates the continuing integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can build gradually, generate chatter, and scale up at the proper time.

An added macro current is brand management across connected story worlds and classic IP. The players are not just releasing another follow-up. They are working to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that announces a reframed mood or a talent selection that reconnects a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring real-world builds, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will go after wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay uncanny live moments and micro spots that interweaves devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s pictures are framed as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to take 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can lift PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that elevates both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries near launch and eventizing rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that manipulates the fear of a child’s wobbly POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. 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 satire sequel that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top get redirected here cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 surprise over-performer 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.