Primordial Horror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, premiering October 2025 across top streamers

A chilling spectral suspense story from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric force when strangers become tokens in a supernatural conflict. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of perseverance and timeless dread that will transform the horror genre this autumn. Directed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick story follows five unacquainted souls who emerge locked in a secluded cottage under the oppressive rule of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a legendary scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture presentation that integrates deep-seated panic with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reimagined when the presences no longer come from a different plane, but rather from within. This symbolizes the most primal part of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a intense clash between innocence and sin.


In a barren wild, five figures find themselves cornered under the evil control and infestation of a unknown character. As the youths becomes powerless to oppose her rule, isolated and chased by powers mind-shattering, they are made to encounter their soulful dreads while the timeline unforgivingly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and associations implode, coercing each participant to contemplate their true nature and the nature of independent thought itself. The danger escalate with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that combines supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon core terror, an entity from prehistory, working through soul-level flaws, and challenging a will that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that flip is haunting because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring streamers internationally can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this gripping descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and press updates via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from grit-forward survival fare drawn from primordial scripture and onward to series comebacks alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the richest and precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously streamers pack the fall with new perspectives set against ancestral chills. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is riding the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop 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.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

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

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

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming terror season: brand plays, new stories, and also A busy Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The new scare season loads early with a January wave, from there carries through June and July, and running into the festive period, mixing brand heft, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the sturdy release in studio lineups, a genre that can scale when it breaks through and still insulate the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed leaders that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and surprise hits. The upswing translated to 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays highlighted there is an opening for many shades, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with intentional bunching, a mix of established brands and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. Horror can debut on many corridors, offer a tight logline for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with moviegoers that turn out on opening previews and stick through the next pass if the entry pays off. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout signals conviction in that dynamic. The slate commences with a weighty January block, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a autumn push that extends to late October and into November. The gridline also reflects the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and broaden at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across unified worlds and storied titles. Studios are not just producing another next film. They are trying to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that signals a recalibrated tone or a ensemble decision that anchors a upcoming film to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are leaning into practical craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That blend produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of assurance and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two headline projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a legacy-leaning treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever shapes trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that shifts into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit eerie street stunts and short reels that interlaces devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, on-set effects led style can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror blast that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on careful craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track 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 angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. 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 headline IP. The month closes 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 thick, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was useful reference aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around 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 sorrowing man’s artificial companion mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-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 prickly boss battle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order tilts and paranoia builds. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that interrogates the panic of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll 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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core movies horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, 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 drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up 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 make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and image-making 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.