Mythic Dread rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across premium platforms

This frightening metaphysical thriller from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when foreigners become instruments in a diabolical struggle. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of staying alive and archaic horror that will resculpt the fear genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic tale follows five people who emerge imprisoned in a hidden lodge under the malevolent command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a millennia-old biblical demon. Be warned to be immersed by a filmic ride that integrates visceral dread with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the entities no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This marks the malevolent version of each of them. The result is a enthralling mental war where the suspense becomes a relentless conflict between light and darkness.


In a haunting wilderness, five souls find themselves trapped under the fiendish aura and grasp of a unidentified apparition. As the team becomes helpless to combat her influence, stranded and tormented by presences mind-shattering, they are cornered to battle their soulful dreads while the countdown coldly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and ties disintegrate, urging each person to doubt their essence and the foundation of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every minute, delivering a horror experience that intertwines supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon raw dread, an malevolence beyond recorded history, filtering through inner turmoil, and testing a being that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beneath mortal despair. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers worldwide can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this visceral ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For featurettes, production news, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 American release plan blends old-world possession, independent shockers, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare steeped in primordial scripture and onward to legacy revivals in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and tactically planned year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios stabilize the year through proven series, concurrently platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the tailwinds of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: 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

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led 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. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen 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.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming genre slate: next chapters, standalone ideas, alongside A hectic Calendar tailored for screams

Dek: The incoming scare season clusters up front with a January glut, before it runs through the mid-year, and well into the festive period, balancing legacy muscle, original angles, and well-timed counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable play in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that mid-range shockers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend moved into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a run that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and new concepts, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, yield a sharp concept for ad units and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the feature connects. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate starts with a busy January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The program also underscores the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is series management across interlocking continuities and established properties. The players are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that links a latest entry to a first wave. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That blend provides 2026 a vital pairing of trust and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a fan-service aware bent without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an AI companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit odd public stunts and bite-size content that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart 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 directive to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around lore, and creature effects, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival additions, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline 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 pitch is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver 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 survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not prevent a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which are ideal for expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning this contact form horror. Focus has done this before, staging 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 card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 narrative that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, More about the author 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 More about the author plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase 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 stealth overachiever 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, 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 shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.