Ancient Evil Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

An frightening otherworldly suspense story from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric dread when drifters become victims in a demonic ordeal. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of living through and forgotten curse that will resculpt genre cinema this autumn. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick thriller follows five lost souls who emerge imprisoned in a isolated shack under the menacing grip of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical spectacle that weaves together visceral dread with arcane tradition, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary pillar in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the entities no longer come beyond the self, but rather deep within. This depicts the darkest element of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a ongoing contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken landscape, five campers find themselves isolated under the dark aura and curse of a unknown apparition. As the team becomes incapable to resist her curse, left alone and targeted by powers ungraspable, they are compelled to deal with their core terrors while the seconds ruthlessly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and friendships disintegrate, pressuring each person to contemplate their true nature and the notion of decision-making itself. The cost escalate with every tick, delivering a horror experience that combines occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel raw dread, an threat that existed before mankind, working through fragile psyche, and highlighting a force that challenges autonomy when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure streamers from coast to coast can dive into this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For bonus footage, extra content, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule integrates primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, paired with brand-name tremors

Spanning survival horror saturated with ancient scripture and stretching into returning series plus focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated as well as deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, even as OTT services saturate the fall with unboxed visions paired with ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal fires the first shot with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc including Alison Brie and 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 feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 an astute call. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

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.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, 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.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. 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.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 chiller lineup: entries, new stories, and also A busy Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The upcoming terror season crams from day one with a January glut, thereafter extends through peak season, and continuing into the holiday frame, braiding brand equity, original angles, and calculated alternatives. Studios with streamers are relying on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has turned into the most reliable lever in studio lineups, a genre that can expand when it catches and still buffer the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can steer the discourse, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The trend fed into 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles proved there is demand for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the industry, with obvious clusters, a pairing of household franchises and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on cinema windows that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Buyers contend the space now acts as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can bow on virtually any date, supply a clear pitch for previews and social clips, and exceed norms with audiences that arrive on previews Thursday and hold through the week two if the picture lands. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence indicates comfort in that setup. The year starts with a thick January window, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The grid also reflects the increasing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and grow at the proper time.

A companion trend is brand management across unified worlds and legacy IP. The players are not just turning out another chapter. They are setting up threaded continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that suggests a fresh attitude or a casting choice that binds a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing material texture, real effects and grounded locations. That pairing gives 2026 a vital pairing of assurance and invention, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two big-ticket plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a fan-service aware campaign without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on franchise iconography, intro reveals, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also get redirected here reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase wide appeal through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an AI companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to mirror eerie street stunts and short reels that blurs attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are branded as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can drive format premiums and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video pairs licensed films with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using editorial spots, horror hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries near their drops and staging as events drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted his comment is here theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has helped for elevated genre 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps make sense of the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not block a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which work nicely for con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that center precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that threads the dread through a child’s flickering POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. 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 the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The sleeper-hit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal horror monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and framing 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.