Primeval Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A spine-tingling paranormal fear-driven tale from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient dread when outsiders become instruments in a malevolent ordeal. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Realized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy film follows five unknowns who wake up caught in a cut-off shack under the oppressive command of Kyra, a female lead dominated by a legendary ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be seized by a screen-based outing that weaves together instinctive fear with mystical narratives, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the fiends no longer appear externally, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the most sinister layer of the protagonists. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the conflict becomes a constant clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting landscape, five youths find themselves stuck under the dark aura and inhabitation of a enigmatic figure. As the youths becomes powerless to resist her manipulation, isolated and tormented by beings beyond reason, they are thrust to stand before their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter without pause winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and ties implode, pushing each individual to scrutinize their being and the concept of self-determination itself. The hazard mount with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon elemental fright, an malevolence older than civilization itself, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a will that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is haunting because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing watchers around the globe can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has garnered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this cinematic journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these fearful discoveries about free will.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule braids together archetypal-possession themes, independent shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from life-or-death fear rooted in near-Eastern lore as well as legacy revivals set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered along with strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, concurrently streamers pack the fall with discovery plays plus ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the art-house flank is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: 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 work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next scare year to come: Sequels, fresh concepts, and also A jammed Calendar Built For frights

Dek The new terror cycle loads in short order with a January glut, from there unfolds through summer corridors, and well into the festive period, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and shrewd counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and platform-native promos that pivot these films into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the surest tool in studio slates, a lane that can scale when it hits and still mitigate the risk when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reminded top brass that cost-conscious scare machines can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The run flowed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a market for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with planned clusters, a mix of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and home streaming.

Insiders argue the horror lane now slots in as a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can bow on most weekends, supply a tight logline for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the second weekend if the offering hits. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping shows trust in that logic. The slate launches with a weighty January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a September to October window that reaches into spooky season and into November. The grid also highlights the continuing integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and broaden at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and classic IP. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are shaping as continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a lead change that anchors a next film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a relay and a foundation-forward character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a rollout cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to renew eerie street stunts and short reels that melds longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a reimagined 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 focus to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that maximizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring 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 pitch is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Expect 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 together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the 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, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 filmed in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a get redirected here continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month wraps 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 meaningful, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. 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 run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating 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 residential haunting story that mediates the fear via a kid’s unsteady subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 erupts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. 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 era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 cost-efficient 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 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, 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 detail, audio design, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.