Primordial Dread returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across major streaming services

An unnerving occult fear-driven tale from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless dread when unfamiliar people become conduits in a fiendish conflict. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of survival and archaic horror that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this October. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and immersive thriller follows five teens who snap to locked in a secluded hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive event that integrates intense horror with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the spirits no longer descend from an outside force, but rather deep within. This suggests the grimmest dimension of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the plotline becomes a intense confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken wilderness, five souls find themselves cornered under the sinister grip and domination of a secretive woman. As the companions becomes paralyzed to break her command, left alone and hunted by creatures unimaginable, they are thrust to deal with their inner demons while the timeline without pity runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread surges and relationships implode, driving each protagonist to reconsider their core and the notion of volition itself. The stakes grow with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to channel basic terror, an spirit from ancient eras, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and highlighting a darkness that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Do not miss this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these ghostly lessons about the psyche.


For previews, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, set against franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with biblical myth through to installment follow-ups together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated as well as calculated campaign year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses hold down the year with familiar IP, while digital services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious 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.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: next chapters, new stories, And A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds immediately with a January pile-up, thereafter stretches through the mid-year, and far into the holiday frame, combining name recognition, novel approaches, and smart counterprogramming. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that pivot the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has grown into the bankable counterweight in studio lineups, a vertical that can grow when it performs and still cushion the floor when it doesn’t. After 2023 proved to top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer audience talk, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with audiences that lean in on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the entry works. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores conviction in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a fall corridor that extends to All Hallows period and past the holiday. The layout also underscores the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are setting up connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating physical effects work, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That blend offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of home base and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a memory-charged bent without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run leaning on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are presented as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to lead 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a new take 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 explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

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 maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, October hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not deter a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. 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 shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate suggest a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary have a peek at these guys Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

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

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting scenario that toys with the horror of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and headline-actor led paranormal 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 parody reboot that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. 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: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. 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 target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.