Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A haunting paranormal horror tale from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old fear when passersby become puppets in a diabolical experiment. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of struggle and primeval wickedness that will revamp horror this October. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and eerie screenplay follows five lost souls who arise locked in a remote shack under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a ancient sacred-era entity. Get ready to be shaken by a filmic experience that blends bodily fright with legendary tales, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established theme in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the demons no longer come from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This suggests the haunting facet of the group. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a constant struggle between light and darkness.


In a barren wilderness, five souls find themselves stuck under the unholy effect and spiritual invasion of a haunted apparition. As the group becomes incapable to withstand her dominion, detached and hunted by spirits indescribable, they are cornered to stand before their worst nightmares while the seconds relentlessly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and links splinter, requiring each member to reconsider their identity and the integrity of liberty itself. The intensity rise with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon raw dread, an spirit before modern man, filtering through our weaknesses, and testing a being that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is haunting because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans globally can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these nightmarish insights about free will.


For featurettes, extra content, and reveals via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 across markets American release plan braids together biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

From grit-forward survival fare steeped in near-Eastern lore as well as canon extensions together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most textured in tandem with blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in parallel streaming platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives together with archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is fueled by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig and featuring 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.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. 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.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: 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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fear cycle: entries, standalone ideas, as well as A brimming Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek The brand-new genre year lines up at the outset with a January traffic jam, and then flows through June and July, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing brand heft, untold stories, and well-timed counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a vertical that can grow when it resonates and still hedge the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed studio brass that modestly budgeted entries can steer pop culture, the following year kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and stealth successes. The run translated to 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings demonstrated there is room for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that travel well. The result for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with planned clusters, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can bow on virtually any date, offer a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that show up on first-look nights and continue through the next weekend if the movie fires. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence indicates belief in that playbook. The calendar starts with a thick January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while holding room for a fall corridor that runs into Halloween and into the next week. The calendar also includes the continuing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and expand at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand management across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Major shops are not just releasing another follow-up. They are looking to package lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a star attachment that binds a upcoming film to a initial period. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of trust and newness, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a memory-charged approach without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. Expect a marketing push built on recognizable motifs, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever tops the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook navigate to this website is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror shot that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a structure that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and coalescing around rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to move out. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles add 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, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films point to a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 prickly boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that pipes the unease through a child’s volatile subjective view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 antique diction and raw menace. Rating: pending. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most Check This Out 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 leverage those opportunities. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, 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, sound, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.